Assertion Partly supported AI assessment confidence: 85% certainty 4/5 debate potential 2/5

Ben Nun: Solar costs 1.5 to 2 cents/kWh versus 8 to 12 cents on the grid

Yaron Ben Nun · He Froze Water in a Barn and Raised $30 Million · Apr 20, 2022 · at 6:53

Nostromo Energy founder Yaron Ben Nun explains how solar power economics crossed cost parity with fossil fuels.

0:00 / 0:12exact quote · 12.4s

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“Today we're talking about one and a half US cent per KWH of solar, two cents maybe, and still the grid cost of energy is between eight to 12 cents.”

quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →

The claim, plainly

The cost of solar electricity is roughly 1.5 to 2 US cents per kilowatt-hour, compared to 8 to 12 cents per kilowatt-hour for standard grid power.

a quote alone can be ambiguous, so this restates it with the references and context of the conversation around it resolved. AI-written; the tape below the player is the source.

Assessment

The claim bundles two assertions regarding electricity costs circa April 2022. The second leg accurately captures standard retail grid electricity costs: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) data show the all-sectors average retail electricity price in the U.S. was 10.59 cents/kWh in 2020, 11.10–11.45 cents/kWh in 2021, and 12.36 cents/kWh in 2022 (with commercial and industrial sectors sitting directly in the 8–12 cents/kWh band). However, the first leg overstates the general cheapness of solar electricity: while isolated world-record competitive auction bids in prime desert locations (e.g., Abu Dhabi at ~1.35 cents/kWh in 2020) achieved 1.5–2.0 cents/kWh, standard benchmark levelized cost of energy (LCOE) metrics from Lazard, IRENA, and LBNL placed average utility-scale solar LCOE between 3.0 and 4.9 cents/kWh (and 2.2 to 3.6 cents/kWh subsidized) during 2021–2022.

U.S. EIA statistics show the average U.S. retail grid electricity price across all sectors was 11.10–11.45 cents/kWh in 2021 and 12.36 cents/kWh in 2022, matching the 8–12 cents/kWh grid cost range.
Lazard (LCOE v15.0 and v16.0) reported unsubsidized utility-scale solar PV LCOE at $28–$42/MWh (2.8–4.2 cents/kWh) in 2021 and $24–$96/MWh in 2023, with subsidized costs ranging from 2.2 to 3.2 cents/kWh.
IRENA reported global weighted-average utility-scale solar LCOE at 4.8 cents/kWh in 2021 and 4.9 cents/kWh in 2022, indicating 1.5–2.0 cents/kWh represented outlier record auction bids rather than standard solar power generation costs.

Checked against

[1] pv-magazine.com [2] solardataatlas.com [3] taiyangnews.info [4] utilitydive.com [5] irena.org [6] irena.org [7] jmkresearch.com [8] renewablewatch.in

"lowest solar tariff" 2020 2021 cents per kWh Lazard LCOE Version 16.0 2023 solar utility scale MWh kWh Lazard LCOE 15.0 "utility-scale solar" low high MWh kWh Lazard Levelized Cost of Energy 2021 2022 2023 solar LCOE per kWh IRENA Renewable Power Generation Costs in 2021 2022 solar PV kWh EIA Electric Power Monthly average retail price of electricity 2021 2022 cents per kilowatt-hour Lazard LCOE Version 15.0 2021 solar utility scale MWh kWh

assessed as of 2026-09-02

This assessment is an AI reading of a public statement, made against the cited references with the confidence shown. It can be wrong. The quote, the tape and the references are all on this page; if something is off, use report an error below. full disclaimer →

Mentioned

grid solar

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