Clean energy is entering the energy system at an unprecedented rate, but deployment is far from uniform across technologies and markets, according to a new IEA report.
World Energy Outlook 2024 shows the contours of a new, more electrified energy system are coming into focus as global electricity demand soars.
Electricity use has grown at twice the pace of overall energy demand over the last decade, with two-thirds of the global increase in electricity demand over the last ten years coming from China.
IEA executive director Fatih Birol (pictured) said: “In previous World Energy Outlooks, the IEA made it clear that the future of the global energy system is electric – and now it is visible to everyone.
“In energy history, we have witnessed the Age of Coal and the Age of Oil – and we are now moving at speed into the Age of Electricity, which will define the global energy system going forward and increasingly be based on clean sources of electricity.
“As with many other global energy trends today, China is a major part of what is happening.
“Whether it is investment, fossil fuel demand, electricity consumption, deployment of renewables, the market for EVs, or clean technology manufacturing, we are now in a world where almost every energy story is essentially a China story.
“Just one example: China’s solar expansion is now proceeding at such a rate that, by the early 2030s – less than 10 years from now – China’s solar power generation alone could exceed the total electricity demand of the United States today.”
Global electricity demand growth is set to accelerate further in the years ahead, adding the equivalent of Japanese demand to global electricity use each year in a scenario based on today’s policy settings – and rising even more quickly in scenarios that meet national and global goals for achieving net zero emissions.
For clean energy to continue growing at pace, much greater investment in new energy systems, especially in electricity grids and energy storage, are necessary, according to the report.
Today, for every dollar spent on renewable power, 60 cents are spent on grids and storage, highlighting how essential supporting infrastructure is not keeping pace with clean energy transitions.
Secure decarbonisation of the electricity sector requires investment in grids and storage to increase even more quickly than clean generation, and the investment ratio to rebalance to 1:1, the report forecasts.
Many power systems are currently vulnerable to an increase in extreme weather events, putting a premium on efforts to bolster their resilience and digital security.