The levelised cost of electricity (LCOE) for a range of technologies is tabulated in this report. The LCOE captures the average cost of producing electricity in Australia from a range of technologies over its entire life, given assumptions about how the generator will operate.
At the time this report was prepared (2015) all new technologies had higher LCOEs than the current Australian grid average wholesale price. No single technology is optimal across all metrics. Of the renewable technologies, wind power had the lowest LCOE. However, natural gas combined cycle and supercritical coal fired generation had the lowest LCOE of all the technologies covered in this study.
The study estimated the LCOEs of various technologies out to 2030. It found the overall ranking of each technology's LCOE was not projected to change from 2015 levels but it was likely the difference between lowest and highest cost technology would decrease.
The LCOE rankings of a carbon emissions price was studied. In 2015, for wind to be competitive with the lowest LCOE fossil fuel generator a $30/tCO2 penalty price needed to be applied. For solar a $70/tCO2 penalty price needed to be applied.
The study noted LCOE does not capture the cost of interfacing with the grid, ie LCOE's for all technologies are calculated at the generator's boundary. No allowance in LCOE is made for the costs associated with connecting / interfacing the various technologies to the grid.
http://www.co2crc.com.au/wp-content/..._final_web.pdf

