Global Electricity Demand Set For ‘Strong Rise’

Global electricity demand is expected to rise sharply in 2024 and 2025, says a new report from the International Energy Agency (IEA).

Demand is forecast to grow by around 4%, up from 2.5% in 2023 – the highest annual growth rate in the past two decades, excluding the rebounds seen after the global financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic. The growth is driven by factors including strong economic activity, increased use of air conditioning amid intense heatwaves, and increasing uptake of technologies like electric vehicles and heat pumps.

Renewable electricity sources are expected to expand rapidly, with their share of global supply forecast to rise from 30% in 2023 to 35% in 2025. Solar PV alone is expected to meet about half of the growth in demand.

However, despite this rise in renewables, coal power generation is unlikely to decline this year due to high demand, the IEA says. This will result in a slight increase in power sector emissions in 2024 before a decline in 2025.

“It’s encouraging to see clean energy’s share of the electricity mix continuing to rise, but this needs to happen at a much faster rate to meet international energy and climate goals,” Keisuke Sadamori, IEA Director of Energy Markets and Security, said in a release accompanying the report. A reliable and secure electricity supply and measures to implement higher energy efficiency will be crucial, he added.