It's a contested field because it can be greatly affected by what assumptions are made.
Construction and operation costs vary greatly between energy sources.
For example, nuclear has the highest construction costs, but operating costs are relatively low. Coal and gas have high operating costs because of the cost of mining and transporting the coal or gas.
Solar and wind have their construction costs, but very low operating costs because sunlight and wind are free.
Nuclear can rarely get insurance. Coal is now very difficult to get finance for from the banks.
Another point is that the coal power stations were originally built by governments so their total cost was subsidised by taxpayers, whereas solar and wind are usually privately financed. So finance costs can vary greatly.
Also, society has changed from a highly centralised and regulated system based on coal power stations to a market based system in which generators bid to supply power at a specific time in the daily operations of the grid.
Household solar also now supplies about a third of power so that is changing the dynamics.
Also, should the cost comparisons include the hidden costs from how we generate our power?
What about the cost of emissions and the costs if we fail to reduce emissions and have to clean up the resulting mess? For example, more emissions means more cyclones and bush fires, which cost society many hidden costs. The federal government has just tipped in an extra $11m for waterbombing bush fires, which are getting worse because of climate warming which is worsening because we are releasing more emissions, so shouldn't that cost counted in comparing power sources, if some sources released emissions which worsened the bushfires?
Who pays to dispose of radioactive waste? Who pays to rehabilitate disused coal mines?
We do. There's no-one else to pay the bills.
Also, how should the cost comparisons be expressed? There are several options.
So it's not a simple comparison.
The result is Google is packed with supposed cost comparisons which vary greatly depending on the assumptions made.
So have fun searching...
