Renewable energy will be the main source of electricity by 2025
Renewable energy will lead the growth of global electricity supply," according to a new report from the International Energy Agency.
The report finds that clean and nuclear energy will meet most of the growth in global electricity demand by 2025, making it unlikely that carbon emissions from the power sector will increase significantly. Global electricity demand growth slowed to 2 percent last year due to the global energy crisis and extreme weather conditions, and is expected to grow to an average of 3 percent over the next three years.
The report found that the fastest growth is expected to come from emerging and developing economies in Asia, with more than 70 percent of global electricity demand growth expected to come from China, India and Southeast Asia. Despite uncertainty about trends in China, its share of global electricity consumption is expected to reach a new record of one-third by 2025.Main sources of electricity in 2025
"The world's growth in demand for electricity is bound to accelerate, with Japan's electricity use set to more than double over the next three years," said Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency. "The good news is that renewable and nuclear energy are growing fast enough to meet almost all of this additional demand, indicating that we are nearing a tipping point for emissions from the power sector. Governments now need to make low-emission sources grow faster and reduce emissions so that the world can meet climate targets while ensuring a secure electricity supply."
Climate Change
The new IEA report notes that global electricity demand and supply is increasingly dependent on weather, with extreme conditions recurring in 2022. In addition to drought in Europe, India has experienced a heat wave that has caused the country's electricity demand to reach its highest peak on record. Similarly, east-central China was hit by a heat wave and drought that led to a reduction in hydropower generation and a surge in demand for air conditioning in Sichuan province. The United States was also hit by severe winter storms in December, triggering massive power outages.
These underscore the need to accelerate decarbonization and accelerate deployment of clean solar energy technologies, according to the report. At the same time, the impact of weather events on electricity demand will intensify as the clean energy transition gathers pace and the share of weather-dependent renewables in the generation mix continues to grow due to increased electrification of heating. In such a world, it is critical to increase the flexibility of the power system while ensuring security of supply and network resilience.
