Still the cheapest new power, but no longer getting cheaper
Lazard released its 2026 Levelized Cost of Energy+ report this week, and the headline is double-edged. Utility-scale solar and onshore wind remain the lowest-cost sources of new electricity in the United States on an unsubsidised basis — but for the first time in years, the curve is bending upward. Unsubsidised utility-scale solar now ranges from about USD 40 to 98 per MWh, up from USD 38–78 in the 2025 edition. Source: PV Tech.
What is pushing costs up
Lazard attributes the increase to pressures hitting every generation technology: higher capital costs, elevated interest rates, tariffs and supply-chain friction. Onshore wind sits at roughly USD 37–99 per MWh, and even with rising inputs, solar keeps a clear cost advantage over most conventional alternatives. Federal tax credits still pull supported projects far lower — down to around USD 16 per MWh for credit-backed utility solar — but as those incentives phase down, the unsubsidised number is the one long-term planners watch.
Why the structure moves to the front
When module prices are already low and financing costs are set by the market, the engineering of the balance of system is one of the few places a project team can still take real cost out. The mounting structure affects cost three ways at once: steel and aluminum content per watt, foundation count and installation hours. A pile-based ground system matched to actual soil conditions, spans sized to the real wind and snow basis, and a rationalised parts count can each shave meaningful cost without touching reliability.
Design discipline beats discounting
The wrong response to cost pressure is a thinner structure bought on price alone — under-specified racking shows up later as deflection, corrosion or warranty disputes. The better response is design discipline: state the load basis, compare quotes on identical layouts and corrosion classes, and let suppliers optimise section sizes against a verified specification. Our guide to reading a mounting datasheet explains which parameters actually drive material content.
The takeaway
Lazard's numbers confirm solar's position as the cheapest new build even in an inflationary cycle — and they make efficient structural engineering more valuable, not less. To see what an optimised structure package looks like for your utility-scale project, send Apex the site location, module format, layout and load basis, and the team will prepare a cost-engineered mounting and tracker proposal for comparison.
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