NEW YORK (Reuters) -Renewable power like solar and onshore wind is the least expensive and quickest power generation source to deploy in the United States, even without government subsidies, Lazard said in a report on Monday.

The cost to build new gas-fired power plants, meanwhile, has hit a 10-year high amidst the country’s record electricity use and growing backlogs for turbines and other equipment needed to construct the plants, Lazard, a global financial services firm, said in its annual Levelized Cost of Energy+ analysis.

WHY IT MATTERS

As U.S. electricity use rises from the expansion energy-intensive data centers and the electrification of industries like transportation, many new power plants will need to be built to meet the rising demand after a nearly 20-year lull.

A shift in support of fossil-fired power like coal and gas, over the renewable energy championed by former President Joe Biden, has raised questions about what types of electricity-generating sources will rise to meet the growing demand.

Different power-producing sources have varying implications for the reliability of the electric grid and for climate change.

BY THE NUMBERS

The cost to build a utility-scale solar farm ranged from $38 to $78 per megawatt hour, while costs for natural gas combined cycle plants were $48 to $107 per megawatt hour. Smaller-scale community solar and gas peaker plants, meanwhile, were considerably more expensive.

(Reporting by Laila Kearney; Editing by Mark Porter)