The cost of wind and solar energy has fallen so dramatically that wind and solar plants can now be built in South Africa at nearly half the cost of new coal, according to the country’s principal research organisation.

A presentation from the energy division of the Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIRO, that country’s equivalent of the CSIRO) illustrates the dramatic different in costs, based on tenders held this year for wind, solar and coal and assumed costs for other technologies.

The analysis by Dr Tobias Bischof-Niemz and Ruan Fourie shows that solar and wind are on par on pricing, and are more than 40 per cent cheaper than new baseload coal plants. Solar and wind are at 0.62 rand per kilowatt hour ($A0.058/kWh), with coal at 1.03 rand/kWh ($A0.09/kWh).

It’s a standout result for South Africa, which unlike developed economies has a shortage of power rather than a surplus, so needs to build new capacity to meet the demands of its growing population and economy.

But they also have implications for countries like Australia, which over the next two decades will need to replace much of its existing fossil fuel capacity. Solar and wind, which are following a similar if slower trajectory in Australia (thanks to its policy environment), will present similar price advantages.

Indeed, the results will be seen as important for any review of the draft update to the Integrated Resource Plan for Electricity (Draft IRP), currently in progress by the Department of Energy and which will set the country’s new energy priorities.