Renewables will be world’s largest electricity source within 3 years

Renewables will cover all growth in electricity supply over the next three years, overtaking oil, gas and coal to become the biggest power source in 2025.  

The news comes from an International Energy Agency (IEA) report released yesterday which predicts the global electricity share of renewables to grow from 29% to 35%.  

This significant growth means renewables, combined with nuclear, will cover all new electricity demand, allowing global energy emissions to plateau.  

As world electricity demand is set to grow by an average of 3% over the next three years, this growth in renewable energy should be able to limit the environmental impact of this.  

‘The world’s growing demand for electricity is set to accelerate, adding more than double Japan’s current electricity consumption over the next three years,’ said IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol. ‘The good news is that renewables and nuclear power are growing quickly enough to meet almost all this additional appetite, suggesting we are close to a tipping point for power sector emissions. Governments now need to enable low-emissions sources to grow even faster and drive down emissions so that the world can ensure secure electricity supplies while reaching climate goals.’  

Electricity growth is set to be concentrated in Asia, with China, India and Southeast Asia accounting for 70% of this growth, according to the report. 

This is where much of the growth in renewables is also taking place, as China is predicted see a 45% growth in renewable generation up to 2025. 

More than half of the growth in nuclear generation is also set to come from China, India, Japan and Korea, allowing for a 302TWh increase in nuclear by 2025.  

However, fossil fuels have not be entirely discarded yet – coal generation has declined in Europe and the Americas but an expected increase in Asia Pacific will offset this. 

CO2 emissions from the power sector reached an all-time high in 2022, but the growth in renewables means emissions are set to plateau. 

The IEA said last year it believed the world has reached its peak fossil fuel demand, as the power capacity of cheap renewables continues to grow.  

The organisation said faster decarbonisation and deployment was needed to cope with electricty demand, while power flexibility was also necessary, since renewable electricity is largely dependent on weather.  

Last year, extreme weather was witnessed across the globe, with droughts and heatwaves in Europe, India and China, and severe storms in the USA.  

Photo by Thomas Reaubourg