Recent global events emphasize the importance of a reliable energy supply. One way to increase energy supply security is through decentralized off-grid renewable energy systems, for which a growing number of case studies are researched. This review gives a global overview of the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) for these autonomous energy systems, which range from 0.03 $_{2021}/kWh to over 1.00 $_{2021}/kWh worldwide. The average LCOEs for 100% renewable energy systems have decreased by 9% annually between 2016 and 2021 from 0.54 $_{2021}/kWh to 0.29 $_{2021}/kWh, presumably due to cost reductions in renewable energy and storage technologies. Furthermore, we identify and discuss seven key reasons why LCOEs are frequently overestimated or underestimated in literature, and how this can be prevented in the future. Our overview can be employed to verify findings on off-grid systems, to assess where these systems might be deployed and how costs evolve.
@article{arxiv.2212.12742,
title = {Global LCOEs of decentralized off-grid renewable energy systems},
author = {Jann Michael Weinand and Maximilian Hoffmann and Jan Göpfert and Tom Terlouw and Julian Schönau and Patrick Kuckertz and Russell McKenna and Leander Kotzur and Jochen Linßen and Detlef Stolten},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2212.12742},
year = {2026}
}