The IEA sees world’s demand for electricity rising at its fastest rate in years, driven by steady economic growth, intense heatwaves and increasing uptake of technologies that run on electricity, such as EVs and heat pumps, but at the same time, renewables continue their rapid ascent, with solar PV on course to set new records.

Global electricity demand is forecast to grow by around 4 per cent in 2024, up from 2.5 per cent in 2023, and continue this rise next year according to the IEA’s Electricity Mid-Year Update. This would represent the highest annual growth rate since 2007, excluding the exceptional rebounds seen in the wake of the global financial crisis and the Covid-19 pandemic.

However, renewable sources of electricity are also set to expand rapidly this year and next. The amount of electricity generated by renewables worldwide in 2025 is on track to eclipse the amount generated by coal for the first time. Solar PV alone is expected to meet roughly half of the growth in global electricity demand over 2024 and 2025.

All of which is good news, but despite the sharp increases in renewables, global power generation from coal is unlikely to decline this year due to this strong growth in demand, especially in China and India. As a result, carbon dioxide emissions from the global power sector are plateauing, with an expected slight increase in 2024 set to be followed by a decline in 2025.

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