Sure. But the marginal cost of renewables is often genuinely zero, because they're producing power for which there is no market demand at that moment. I already mentioned capital costs.

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PL's avatar
PL 1 year ago
Marginal cost can be zero from time to time and producers will run if they can get other incentives like RECs. However they won’t give the power for free and have wear and tear on equipment. Better to shut down than to sell at zero or negative prices if no RECs can be captured BTW I work in renewable energy
Which specific type of renewable energy? There's essentially zero wear and tear on photovoltaic solar. Other than maybe a few fans it's entirely solid state. Wind turbines are turning out to have widespread gearbox lifetime issues, with many gearboxes lasting significantly less than their 20-30 design lifetimes. But that's probably going to improve. And direct drive turbines are becoming more common.