In its World Energy Outlook for 2025, the International Energy Agency (IEA) emphasised on Wednesday 12 November that the world has indeed entered the “Age of Electricity”, but that security of supply depends on the development of grids and storage and flexibility capacities, which are subject to major delays.
The report states that “investments in electricity generation have charged ahead by almost 70% since 2015 to reach USD 1 trillion per year, but annual grid spending has risen at less than half the pace to USD 400 billion”.
It points out that this trend is increasing congestion, delaying the connection of new sources of electricity generation and driving up electricity prices.
For the time being, electricity accounts for only around 20% of final energy consumption worldwide, according to the IEA, but “it is the key source of energy for sectors accounting for over 40% of the global economy and the main source of energy for most households”.
The report also points out that the increase in electricity consumption is no longer confined to emerging and developing economies. It is also happening in advanced economies, due to the “dizzying” growth in demand for data centres and AI.
Link to the report: https://aeur.eu/f/je0 (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)