The International Energy Agency announced on Friday that the amount of electricity generated from renewable sources is expected to exceed that from coal-fired plants in 2025 for the first time.
Electricity demand is projected to increase by four percent in the coming years, up from the 2.5 percent growth in 2023.
This spike in demand is the highest annual growth rate since 2007, excluding the increases seen after the global financial crisis and the Covid-19 pandemic recovery, according to the agency based in Paris.
Keisuke Sadamori, the IEA’s director of energy markets and security, attributed the rise in demand to the growing importance of electricity in economies and the effects of severe heatwaves.
Renewable sources like hydroelectric, solar, and wind are forecasted to contribute 35 percent of global electricity supply in 2025, up from 30 percent in 2023.
Solar energy alone is expected to satisfy half of the demand growth, with wind providing an additional 25 percent.
Despite the increase in renewable energy, coal use is not anticipated to decrease due to rising electricity usage in countries like China and India.
India is predicted to experience an eight percent increase in electricity demand this year due to heatwaves, while China’s demand is forecasted to grow by six percent.
Europe is expected to see a 1.7 percent increase in electricity demand, while the United States is projected to have a three percent rise, driven in part by the development of data centers for artificial intelligence.
Sadamori emphasized the need for a faster transition to clean energy to meet global energy and climate targets and urged officials to implement higher energy efficiency standards to mitigate the impact of increased cooling demand on power systems.
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