54
Section 2
Section 1
Section 2
Market cost, with range
Adoption (note different scales)
Fossil fuel cost (2020)
Passenger 
electric vehicle 
Photovoltaics
(PV) 
Onshore
wind 
Offshore
wind
Key
a) Market Cost
b) Market Adoption
Renewable electricity generation 
is increasingly price-competitive 
and some sectors are electrifying
Since AR5, the unit costs of some 
forms of renewable energy and 
of batteries for passenger EVs 
have fallen. 
Since AR5, the installed capacity 
of renewable energies has 
increased multiple times.
2000
2020
2010
2010
2010
2010
2010
2010
2010
2010
2010
Cost ($2020/MWh)
1200
1600 Li-ion battery packs
800
400
0
150
300
450
600
0
Cost ($2020/kWh)
Adoption (millions of EVs)
0
2
4
6
8
Adoption (GW) -note differnt scales
0
200
400
600
800
0
10
20
30
40
Fossil fuel cost (2020)
below this point, costs can 
be less than fossil fuels
Figure 2.4: Unit cost reductions and use in some rapidly changing mitigation technologies. The top panel (a) shows global costs per unit of energy (USD per MWh) 
for some rapidly changing mitigation technologies. Solid blue lines indicate average unit cost in each year. Light blue shaded areas show the range between the 5th and 95th 
percentiles in each year. Yellow shading indicates the range of unit costs for new fossil fuel (coal and gas) power in 2020 (corresponding to USD 55 to 148 per MWh). 
In 2020, the levelised costs of energy (LCOE) of the three renewable energy technologies could compete with fossil fuels in many places. For batteries, costs shown are for 1 kWh 
of battery storage capacity; for the others, costs are LCOE, which includes installation, capital, operations, and maintenance costs per MWh of electricity produced.