BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 20. For the full year 2022, electricity demand in Europe is expected to increase by below 1 percent, less than half the value expected early this year, Trend reports with reference to the International Energy Agency (IEA).
“Possible fossil fuel shortages, in particular of natural gas, and a further slowdown of economic growth could reduce demand growth even more. For 2023, the outlook is rather uncertain. Assuming continued tense energy markets and suppressed economic growth, electricity demand growth could remain on a similarly low level as in 2022,” reads the latest IEA report.
In Europe, energy prices – and consequently impacts on the economy – have been particularly high.
Additionally, sanctions on imports from Russia into the EU and retaliation measures by Russia worsened the outlook for economic recovery and, with it, electricity demand growth in 2022. Milder temperatures in the first quarter of 2022 compared to 2021 also dampened demand. In countries where electricity supplies a high share of heating (e.g. France and Scandinavian countries), demand in the first four months of the year decreased by more than 5 percent year on year. In Türkiye, in absolute terms the country with the highest demand growth in 2021 (plus 8 percent), demand growth slowed down to about 2.8 percent in the first half of 2022, primarily due to lower economic growth. In Ukraine, monthly electricity demand declined by more than 30 percent year on year after the outbreak of war in Ukraine and until publication of this report.
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