Costs for electricity converted from solar and wind energy could drop as much as 59 percent by 2025, according to a report recently published by the International Renewable Energy Agency.

In the report, which is titled “The Power to Change: Solar and Wind Cost Reduction Potential to 2025,” the agency estimated that the cost of electricity produced by solar and wind technologies will decrease between 26 and 59 percent -- 59 percent for solar photovoltaics, 35 percent for offshore wind and 26 percent for onshore wind -- over the next nine years.

Electricity prices for concentrated solar power are also expected to decrease as much as 43 percent (depending on the technology) by 2025, with the global average expected to reach between 5 and 6 U.S. cents per kilowatt-hour, according to the report.

“We have already seen dramatic cost decreases in solar and wind in recent years and this report shows that prices will continue to drop, thanks to different technology and market drivers,” Adnan Amin, director general for the International Renewable Energy Agency, said in a news release announcing the report’s publication. “Given that solar and wind are already the cheapest source of new generation capacity in many markets around the world, this further cost reduction will broaden that trend and strengthen the compelling business case to switch from fossil fuels to renewables.”

The Agency also reported that the prices for solar photovoltaics and wind turbines have fallen nearly 80 percent since 2009, and that those prices have consistently dropped 20 percent with every doubling of cumulative installed capacity.

The full report is available at irena.org.