IEA: Power prices 2010 will depend on government finance spend & carbon prices

The cost of electricity for 2010 onwards will depend heavily on how governments plan to raise financial capital for electricity generation as well as the price of carbon, say the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) in their latest report, Projected Costs of Generating Electricity.

"A period [such as now] when many countries are looking to invest in electricity capacity while working to reduce carbon emissions provides an indispensable basis for any discussion about electricity generation choices," says Luis Echávarri, director-general of the NEA.

IEA executive director Nobuo Tanaka also stresses that "to bolster competitiveness of low-carbon technologies such as nuclear, renewables and carbon capture and storage (CCS), we need strong government action to lower the cost of