3rd June 2025
Another claim is that fossil fuels offer a) cheaper energy and b) secure energy (to be discussed later this week). In a YouTube presentation of the Shell Energy Transition Strategy 2024, Wael Sawan promotes Shell as being affordable and reliable energy. (1)
But do fossil fuels provide cheaper energy? According to a report by Our World in Data this is no longer true:-
“Fossil fuels dominate the global power supply because, until very recently, electricity from fossil fuels was far cheaper than electricity from renewables. This has dramatically changed within the last decade. In most places in the world, power from new renewables is now cheaper than power from new fossil fuels.” (2)
Here in the UK the cost of generating electricty from renewable sources has similarly continued to fall, whilst the cost of generating from gas has increased.
“The British government’s assessments of the LCOE* of generation technologies since 2012 show striking reductions in the LCOE of wind turbines and solar PV panels over time, which fell to between £41 per megawatt hour (MWh) and £48/MWh respectively for new developments in 2023. In comparison, the cost of new conventional gas-fired generation (without carbon capture) rose from £103/MWh (including a carbon price of £25/MWh) in 2012 to £124/MWh (including a carbon price of £65/MWh) in 2023.”(3)
- https://youtu.be/jILf-8GpzDI?si=ga1m_bAQ4eeVytxh
- https://ourworldindata.org/cheap-renewables-growth
- https://www.imperial.ac.uk/grantham/publications/background-briefings/how-cost-effective-is-a-renewables-dominated-electricity-system-in-comparison-to-one-based-on-fossil-fuels/
*The ‘levelised cost of electricity’ (LCOE) provides a simple means of comparing different technologies for the production of electricity, taking account of capital costs and costs of operation, including maintenance and the purchase of any fuel needed.
The Green Tau 