{"id":72997,"date":"2021-07-16T12:46:36","date_gmt":"2021-07-16T10:46:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sonnenseite.com\/?p=72997"},"modified":"2021-07-16T12:46:37","modified_gmt":"2021-07-16T10:46:37","slug":"global-electricity-demand-is-growing-faster-than-renewables-driving-strong-increase-in-generation-from-fossil-fuels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sonnenseite.com\/en\/energy\/global-electricity-demand-is-growing-faster-than-renewables-driving-strong-increase-in-generation-from-fossil-fuels\/","title":{"rendered":"Global electricity demand is growing faster than renewables, driving strong increase in generation from fossil fuels"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

New IEA report sees 5% rise in electricity demand in 2021 with almost half the increase met by fossil fuels, notably coal, threatening to push CO2 emissions from the power sector to record levels in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Renewables are expanding quickly but not enough to satisfy a strong rebound in global electricity demand this year, resulting in a sharp rise in the use of coal power that risks pushing carbon dioxide emissions from the electricity sector to record levels next year, says a new report from the International Energy Agency.

After falling by about 1% in 2020 due to the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, global electricity demand is set to grow by close to 5% in 2021 and 4% in 2022 \u2013 driven by the global economic recovery \u2013 according to the latest edition of the IEA\u2019s semi-annual Electricity Market Report<\/a> released today. The majority of the increase in electricity demand is expected to come from the Asia Pacific region, primarily China and India.

Based on current policy settings and economic trends, electricity generation from renewables \u2013 including hydropower, wind and solar PV \u2013 is on track to grow strongly around the world over the next two years \u2013 by 8% in 2021 and by more than 6% in 2022. But even with this strong growth, renewables will only be able to meet around half the projected increase in global electricity demand over those two years, according to the new IEA report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fossil fuel-based electricity generation is set to cover 45% of additional demand in 2021 and 40% in 2022, with nuclear power accounting for the rest. As a result, carbon emissions from the electricity sector \u2013 which fell in both 2019 and 2020 \u2013 are forecast to increase by 3.5% in 2021 and by 2.5% in 2022, which would take them to an all-time high.

Renewable growth has exceeded demand growth in only two years: 2019 and 2020. But in those cases, it was largely due to exceptionally slow or declining demand, suggesting that renewables outpacing the rest of the electricity sector is not yet the new normal.

\u201cRenewable power is growing impressively in many parts of the world, but it still isn\u2019t where it needs to be to put us on a path to reaching net-zero emissions by mid-century,\u201d said Keisuke Sadamori, the IEA Director of Energy Markets and Security. \u201cAs economies rebound, we\u2019ve seen a surge in electricity generation from fossil fuels. To shift to a sustainable trajectory, we need to massively step up investment in clean energy technologies \u2013 especially renewables and energy efficiency.\u201d\u00a0

In the pathway set out in IEA\u2019s recent Roadmap to Net Zero by 2050<\/a>, nearly three-quarters of global emissions reductions between 2020 and 2025 take place in the electricity sector. To achieve this decline, the pathway calls for coal-fired electricity generation to fall by more than 6% a year.

However, coal-fired electricity generation is set to increase by almost 5% this year and by a further 3% in 2022, potentially reaching an all-time high, according to the Electricity Market Report. Gas-fired generation, which declined 2% in 2020, is expected to increase by 1% in 2021 and by nearly 2% in 2022. The growth of gas lags that of coal because it plays a smaller role in the fast-growing economies in the Asia Pacific region and it faces competition from renewables in Europe and North America.

Since the IEA\u2019s last Electricity Market Report<\/em> in December 2020, extreme cold, heat and drought have caused serious strains and disruptions<\/a> to electricity systems across the globe \u2013 in countries ranging from the United States and Mexico to China and Iraq. In response, the IEA is establishing an Electricity Security Event Scale to track and classify major power outages, based on the duration of the disruption and the number of affected customers. The Texas power crisis in February, where millions of customers were without power for up to four days because of icy weather, was assigned the most severe rating on this scale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Electricity Market Report 2021 (pdf) full report<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

International Energy Agency \/ IEA 2021<\/a><\/p>\n

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