Not necessarily true at this point for new projects. IRENA indicates wind projects commissioned globally in 2022 had a weighted average LCOE of $33 USD/MWh. Hydropower projects over the last decade or so (2010–2021) were around $39 to $48. (2022 average was $61, but obviously recent market conditions were far from normal)
Wind, with it's availability of ~60% is not massively different from other energy plants with their availability of 80 - 92%.
Solar is worse, but since most modern high quality tables include LCOE's for "solar" and "solar+battery" with very different numbers, it shouldn't be misleading.
How reliable is hydropower now though? I’m living in a place which normally sees huge snow falls each year, this melting snow runs hydro, guess what ? We have about 15% of our usual base and next week it's going to be +10c average.
