Global demand for electricity is likely to increase by 2 percent in 2023. EU and Mercosur want to move forward: this has consequences for Switzerland

The International Energy Agency (IEA) expects global demand for electricity to increase by just under two percent this year. The reasons for this are the continuing economic slowdown and the consequences of the energy crisis in many industrialized countries, the IEA announced on Wednesday in its electricity market report in Paris. Electricity demand in the US, Japan and Europe is expected to fall in 2023. Electricity consumption in the EU is expected to fall to 2002 levels. Energy-intensive industries in the EU have not yet recovered from last year’s drop in production, they said.

However, with improved prospects for the global economy, demand for electricity is expected to increase again by 3.3 percent next year. According to the IEA report, the increase in electricity demand is being driven by electrification in an effort to reduce climate-damaging emissions. In addition, rising temperatures would increase the use of air conditioning systems, which would increase electricity consumption. In addition, there would be strong demand growth in emerging and developing countries.

While demand is growing in many regions, the heavy deployment of renewable energy around the world means it’s on track to meet all of the additional growth in global electricity demand over the next two years, the analysis from the study shows. IEA. By 2024, renewable energy will account for more than a third of global electricity generation. Depending on the weather, 2024 could be the first year in which more electricity will be generated globally from renewable sources than from coal.

At the same time, according to the IEA, electricity generation from fossil fuels is expected to decline over the next two years. Oil-based power generation is expected to decline sharply, while coal-based power generation will decline slightly in 2023 and 2024 after rising 1.7 percent in 2022.

“Global demand for electricity will increase significantly in the coming years,” said Keisuke Sadamori, IEA Director of Energy Markets and Security. The share of renewable energy in electricity generation is expected to increase, reducing the use of fossil fuels. “Now is the time for policymakers and the private sector to build on this momentum to ensure the energy sector’s emissions fall sustainably.”

Another sign that the energy transition is taking hold is that the IEA now expects fossil fuel generation to decline in four of the six years between 2019 and 2024. This indicates that the world is rapidly moving towards a tipping point where global electricity generation from fossil fuels will increasingly be replaced by electricity from clean energy sources, the report said.

(yam/sda/awp/dpa)