Renewables and nuclear power are projected to account for nearly all of the growth in global electricity demand over the next three years.
According to the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) Electricity Sector Report, while the world’s electricity demand decreased by 2% last year due to the energy crisis and mild weather conditions, demand growth differs from country to country.
Despite seeing increases in electricity demand in India and the US last year, electricity demand in the European Union fell 3.5% last year, the second largest since the financial crisis in 2009.
After last year’s decline, global electricity demand is projected to grow by 3% by 2025. While emerging economies in Asia stand out as the driving force behind this growth, it is calculated that 70% of the increase in world electricity demand will originate from China, India and Southeast Asian countries.
The 3% growth forecast for the next three years in electricity demand is above the average 2.4% increase in the years before the epidemic.
With the increase in renewable energy capacity, new nuclear power plant installations and some nuclear power plants reopening, it is predicted that almost all the growth in world electricity demand in the next three years will come from these sources.
With the growth in renewable energy capacity, the share of these sources in global electricity generation is expected to increase from 29% in 2022 to 35% in 2025. As the share of low-carbon energy sources in meeting electricity demand increases, it is calculated that sector-based carbon emissions will remain at their current level until 2025, after reaching an all-time high in 2022. In his evaluation of the report, IEA President Fatih Birol said, “The world’s electricity demand will increase rapidly in the next three years and will grow more than twice the current electricity consumption of Japan. The good news is that renewables and nuclear power are also growing to meet this increase. This means that emissions from the electricity sector are approaching their peak.”
Birol stated that governments need to ensure more growth of low-carbon electricity generation sources in order to secure electricity supply while meeting the world’s climate targets.
Source: AA / Prepared by Irem Yildiz