Last year, global electricity demand increased by 2.2% to 27,682 TWh. This is what emerges from the annual report of the International Energy Agency (IEA) on electricity production. For the years 2024 to 2026, the agency expects electricity demand to grow by an average of 3.4%.
Announcement
The share of electricity generation without CO₂ emissions will also grow, reaching almost half of global production by 2026. Here the IEA includes those coming from nuclear power plants, writes the IEA. In 2025, electricity generation from nuclear power will surpass the previous record of 2021. Then maintenance of nuclear power plants in France would be completed, Japan would put several reactors back into operation, and new nuclear power plants would enter commercial operation in China, India, Korea and Europe.
Africa is stagnant
According to IEA forecasts, by the beginning of 2025 the share of renewable energy will account for more than a third of total electricity production and will surpass coal. If the share of fossil fuels in global production falls below 60%, it would be the first time it has fallen below this threshold in IEA statistics. These date back a good five decades. “The energy sector currently produces more CO₂ emissions than any other sector of the global economy,” explains IEA President Fatih Birol. The rapid growth of renewable energy, for example through cheaper solar energy and the return of nuclear energy, is therefore encouraging. In contrast, the year 2023 was characterized by strong growth in coal-fired electricity generation.
Last year, declining electricity consumption in the US and Europe impacted production, while there was robust growth in China, India and emerging and developing countries. The IEA predicts that by 2026, around 85% of the increase in global electricity demand will come from countries outside Europe and the United States, mainly from China – although growth will slow – from countries in the South -East Asia and India.
IEA forecasts stronger electricity demand growth for India; In around three years the same amount of electricity will be consumed as is currently consumed in Britain. In contrast, electricity demand in Africa has been stagnant for more than three decades. In October last year, the IEA predicted that by the end of this decade the share of renewables in the energy mix would increase from the current level of around 30% to almost 50%.
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