Australia

Key points

• The report found renewables remain the lowest-cost new-build electricity generation technology, while nuclear small modular reactors (SMRs) are the most costly.
• Electricity systems rely on a mix of technologies, because no single option can deliver all the capabilities required for a reliable, secure and flexible supply.
• Rising construction costs in Australia and supply chain constraints for some technologies remain a challenge for reducing costs.

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The report found renewables (wind and solar) backed by storage and transmission remained the lowest-cost new-build electricity generation technologies.

Gas with carbon capture and storage (CCS) and large-scale nuclear are the next lowest cost options, but as neither are currently deployed for electricity generation in Australia, they could be subject to longer lead times and first-of-a-kind premiums.

Small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) remain the highest cost option, even with new data from Canada’s Darlington project. This represented the first commercial-scale benchmark from a western country and fell within the range previously projected by GenCost.