Tunde Sholanke
The International Energy Agency (IEA),says renewable capacity will meet 35% of global power generation by 2025
It also also said electricity demand is forecast to grow by 3% a year over the next three years compared to 2022, with a third of global consumption in China.
The Energy Information Administration predicts that solar power will make up more than half of new capacity in the US in 2023.
A significant rise in CO2 emissions from the global power sector is unlikely over the next few years, thanks to the rapid rise in renewable energy capacity.
It represents one of the key findings from the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) Electricity Market Report 2023.
It predicts that renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power, together with nuclear, will on average meet more than 90% of the increase in global demand by 2025.
“The good news is that renewables and nuclear power are growing quickly enough to meet almost all this additional appetite, suggesting we are close to a tipping point for power sector emissions,” says IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol.
“Governments now need to enable low-emissions sources to grow even faster and drive down emissions so that the world can ensure secure electricity supplies while reaching climate goals,” he warns.
The IEA forecasts that global electricity demand is expected to rise by 3% per year over the 2023-2025 period, compared with the 2022 growth rate.
Over 70% of this is expected to come from China, Southeast Asia and India, the report says.
But advanced economies are looking to generate more electricity, as well as reduce reliance on fossil fuels in sectors like heating and transportation.
“By 2025, for the first time in history, Asia will account for half of the world’s electricity consumption and one-third of global electricity will be consumed in China… over the next three years the electricity consumption added each year is roughly equivalent to that of the United Kingdom and Germany combined,” the report says.
