Panel data for utility solar PV and onshore wind costs and adoption with climate policy and macro variables

Panel data for utility solar PV and onshore wind costs. A small amount of commercial/residential PV data is also available.

This country–year panel compiles cost, deployment, policy, and macroeconomic series for utility-scale solar PV and onshore wind from 1990–2023. The release contains data for 96 countries. Focusing on the two utility technologies, the dataset includes 1356 installed-cost observations across 67 countries (solar PV: 556 in 49 countries; onshore wind: 800 in 55). Adoption series are broader: capacity and generation available for 81 countries (solar PV) and 73 countries (onshore wind). In 2023, countries with at least one cost observation account for about 97.8% of global utility-scale solar PV capacity and 98.7% of onshore wind capacity (generation coverage ≈97.0% and ≈98.5%), indicating that cost-covered jurisdictions span the vast majority of installed fleets.

What’s inside. Core cost fields: Total installed costs (\$/kW), Module costs (\$/kW), Balance-of-System costs (\$/kW), LCOE (\$/kWh), and a source flag. Deployment: Capacity (MW), Production (GWh), plus Electricity Installed Capacity and Electricity Generation. PriceLevel (PPP ratio) is provided to construct PPP-adjusted measures. Policy variables are annual instrument-specific stringency scores (prefixed LEV3_) suitable for econometric studies (e.g., feed-in tariffs, auctions, renewable certificates, ETS in electricity, carbon taxes, fossil-fuel subsidy reform, renewable expansion planning, coal phase-out/credit restrictions, energy R\&D). Macro-institutional covariates support identification and robustness (finance, trade, growth, state capacity, inequality).

Sources and harmonisation. Installed costs, LCOE, and component splits: IRENA compilations and a structured Baumgartner cost dataset (see Source per record). Deployment: IRENA capacity and generation time series. Policy indicators: annual stringency indices mapped from OECD climate actions/policies to consistent instrument-level measures (LEV3_). Finance and macro covariates: World Bank (exchange rate, GDP and GDP per capita, GDP growth, trade/GDP, FDI inflows/GDP, unemployment, urbanization, oil rents/GDP, R\&D/GDP), 10-year government bond yields (BidYield), and inequality (GINI). Technology capability and structure: IEA/clean-energy patent counts; product-space measures (Proximity, RCA).

Intended use and limitations. Built for cross-country analyses of cost dynamics and policy effects, including panel econometrics, diffusion/cost modelling, and benchmarking of cost/diffusion trajectories. Coverage is uneven in earlier years and smaller markets; some fields are missing where sources are silent. Among countries with any cost observation, 41 are high-income and 26 are middle/low-income, but parts of Africa and Asia remain under-represented. Policy stringency scores summarise heterogeneous national designs; users should run sensitivity checks and consult the source.