Governors' Wind Energy Coalition

The International Energy Agency has released a new report examining historical trends in the cost of wind energy over the past several decades.

Those costs fell precipitously between 1980 and 2000 because of innovation and efficiency gains, but started to rise in the early 2000s due to commodity and raw materials prices.

More recently, turbine prices have declined again, though they have yet to return to the historical lows reached at the beginning of the previous decade. Performance improvements have continued, although not to the point where the power source has reached its optimal cost.

According to the report, the levelized cost of wind energy is expected to continue to fall around the globe, although it will be some time before wind can compete with other power sources without outside help.