Renewables and their effect on
the price of electricity

The effect of renewables on electricity price is well-documented.

The graph below shows what has happened to electricity prices in Europe as the proportion of renewable energy has increased. The country with the highest proportion has the most expensive electricity.

The reasons are not difficult to work out: intermittency, ramping the rest of the grid up and down as the weather changes (the most inefficient way to run a turbine); solar doesn't work well at night or in winter; wind turbines only have a fraction of the lifetime of a nuclear or gas power station, etc, etc ...

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