Yesterday, the second edition of the Storage, Renewable and Electric Vehicle Integration Forum took place, organized by strategicenergy.eu and Mobility Portal Europe. The opening session featured an exclusive interview with Norella Constantinescu, Director of the Innovation and Technology Centre at the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), who shared the agency’s vision on the current state and future of renewable energy technology costs.

Constantinescu anticipated that renewable energy prices will continue to decline, although at a more moderate pace than in previous years. “The speed of cost reduction will not be the same, but it will continue thanks to innovation and economies of scale,” she stated. In her view, technological advancements and process standardization will continue to drive prices down, even though the phase of steep reductions appears to be behind us.

“The levelized cost of electricity for solar PV, onshore wind, and offshore wind is expected to keep decreasing. Solar PV has already dropped by 90%, which was a very steep slope. We cannot expect that same intensity to continue. In the case of onshore wind, costs have fallen by 70%,” she explained.

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In this context, the expert noted that in 2023, the global average levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) reached 0.044 USD/kWh for solar PV and 0.033 USD/kWh for onshore wind. These reductions, she explained, are documented in the most recent available edition of IRENA’s cost report, published in 2024.

Regarding offshore wind, she pointed out that although it remains more expensive, significant improvements are already being seen due to technological advances and optimized manufacturing processes. “We are seeing individual projects reaching a few hundred megawatts, which is significant. Europe, for example, added several gigawatts in the most recent deployment we analyzed,” she noted.

The global weighted average LCOE of offshore wind fell by 63% between 2010 and 2023, from 0.203 USD/kWh to 0.075 USD/kWh. In 2023 alone, a 7% year-over-year decrease was recorded, according to the report.

Beyond the LCOE, Constantinescu emphasized that integration costs are a key factor. “As an electrical systems engineer, I insist that not only renewables, but all sources of generation must be evaluated based on their integration costs,” she pointed out. In any case, she considers the growth of renewables to be evident. “Over 80% of additional generation capacity in recent years has come from renewables. This proves their cost-effectiveness, and also that their implementation times are much shorter than conventional power plants,” she stated.

In her view, mature renewable technologies like solar PV and onshore wind have reached a strong position in terms of competitiveness. However, she warns that the challenges have now shifted to other areas, such as grid infrastructure, material availability, and regulation.

The forum also featured key industry associations such as SolarPower Europe, Hydrogen Europe, EASE, and AELEC, along with company representatives who shared perspectives on storage, power grids, and renewable integration. Today, the event continues with a debate focused on e-mobility.

Hybrid projects and storage: the new axis of system flexibility

On the topic of energy storage, Constantinescu highlighted a structural transformation driven by innovation. “We are seeing a massive global rollout of batteries, which enables greater renewable penetration,” she said.

Battery storage project costs dropped 90% between 2010 and 2023, from 2,511 USD/kWh to 273 USD/kWh. “This change is due to scaling up manufacturing, improving material efficiency, and refining industrial processes,” explained the head of IRENA’s innovation centre.

Deployment has also accelerated significantly: aggregate battery capacity grew from 0.1 GWh in 2010 to 95.9 GWh in 2023, marking a structural change in energy backup infrastructure. According to data from EASE (The European Association for Storage of Energy), 22 GWh of new energy storage capacity was installed in Europe in 2024.

In this context, she also noted the rise of hybrid projects that combine renewables with storage. “We’re seeing new technologies emerge, and this helps reduce costs and dependence on certain materials,” she added.

IRENA warns: green hydrogen needs global standards to become a true market

IRENA forecasts sustained growth in green hydrogen and its derivatives. However, Constantinescu emphasized: “The technology has evolved in terms of electrolyzers, but we haven’t yet reached the maturity seen in batteries.”

“We need to act on the technology, on end-use sectors, but also on the standardization of requirements to drive the market at an international level. Standards for derivatives are emerging, and they will likely be implemented before hydrogen itself,” she stressed.

The geography of the energy transition: leadership and disparities

In 2024, global renewable energy deployment hit a new record, with a 15% increase over the previous year and 585 GW of capacity added. “Of this, 75% came from solar PV, which clearly leads global deployment, followed by wind energy,” said the executive. Together, these two technologies accounted for roughly 90% of all renewable capacity installed during the year.

However, she warned that the geographical distribution of deployment is uneven. “65% is concentrated in China, which is directly linked to its industrial capacity to manufacture renewable technologies, especially solar PV,” she explained. Europe accounted for 15%, driven by specific renewable targets and supportive policies, while the United States contributed 7%.

Constantinescu also drew attention to Africa’s low participation, noting that “despite having significant solar and wind resources, it only accounted for 2% of total deployment.”

Digitalization and artificial intelligence: both challenge and solution for the energy system

For IRENA, digitalization represents both a source of electricity demand and a solution for system optimization. On one hand, it introduces new energy demand, driven by the growth of data centers and intensive use of artificial intelligence.

“We see that digitalization, the rise of AI, and data centers will require energy, and therefore represent a final consumption sector that will face increasing electricity demand,” said the IRENA representative.

At the same time, it serves as a strategic tool to support renewable integration in distributed and complex systems. “Digitalization can contribute to this energy transition by supporting the integration of renewables, especially in applications like electromobility and heat pumps,” she explained.

She also emphasized that these digital solutions will play a key role in infrastructure. “Digitalization will have a role in the power grid through digital solutions that facilitate integration with infrastructure,” she stated during the exclusive interview held as part of the Storage, Renewable and Electric Vehicle Integration Forum.

New materials, batteries, and perovskites: key pillars of technological innovation

Constantinescu highlighted innovations in materials linked to energy storage and supply chain diversification. “New materials are emerging, and their recyclability could be important, helping reduce the pressure on certain critical materials we identified a few years ago,” she noted.

As an example, she referred to an evaluation of batteries used in electromobility, where new compounds are helping reduce dependence on critical minerals.

In her view, this evolution will help overcome bottlenecks and reshape the global map of strategic inputs. Batteries, particularly in the electromobility sector, are one of the areas where this transformation is already underway.

She also pointed to progress in emerging solar technologies. “Solar PV is a very mature technology, but other technologies, like perovskites, are emerging as the next solution,” she concluded.