BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan.14
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
During 2022-2024, rapidly growing renewables will almost match moderate demand growth, Trend reports with reference to the International Energy Agency (IEA).
“We anticipate average annual electricity demand growth of 2.7 percent, but the Covid-19 pandemic and high energy prices add uncertainty to this. Recordbreaking renewables growth (up 8 percent per year on average) is set to serve more than 90 percent of net demand growth during this period. We expect nuclear-based generation to grow by 1 percent annually during the same period (meeting 4 percent of global demand growth). Fossil fuel generation is set to stagnate over the next three years,” reads the IEA report.
As a consequence of slowing electricity demand growth and significant additions of renewable power capacity, fossil fuel-based generation is seen broadly flat in the coming years, according to the agency.
“We expect coalfired generation to fall slightly as phase-outs and declining competitiveness relative to natural gas in markets like the United States and Europe are offset by growth in China and India. Gas-fired generation is forecast to grow annually by around 1 percent. Today’s policy settings are insufficient to cut emissions. In our forecast, power sector emissions remain around the same level from 2021 to 2024, whereas they need to start declining sharply to meet the IEA’s Net Zero Emissions by 2050 Scenario. This underlines the massive changes needed in terms of energy efficiency and low-carbon supply for the electricity sector to fulfil its critical role in decarbonising the broader energy system,” said the report.
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