Clean Energy: Production Volumes Increase Steadily
“Clean” sources of electricity generation could meet additional global electricity demand over the next three years. Renewable energy production is growing rapidly, while nuclear power generation is set to reach a new all-time high next year, enabling low-emission power generation to meet growing global electricity demand.
According to the new report by the International Energy Agency (IEA) entitled “Electricity 2024. Analysis and forecasts to 2026,” global electricity demand is expected to grow at a faster rate over the next three years, as the world’s transition to clean energy occurs at an accelerating pace, and all additional demand is expected to be met by technologies that produce low-emission electricity.
In this context, nuclear power production is expected to break all records in 2025, as more and more countries invest in building new reactors to ease the transition to a low-CO2 economy. According to IEA experts, “renewables will quite likely displace coal as the main source already in early 2025.”
The agency writes that in China, India, Egypt, South Korea, as well as in Europe, many new nuclear reactors will have to be put into operation during the 2024-2025 period. Many countries, including France and Japan, have announced plans to significantly increase nuclear power production. In Dabaa, Egypt, the Russian state-owned company Rosatom is building a new nuclear power plant: the first of the four Generation 3+ reactors is due to come online in 2026.
The demand for electricity is expected to continue to grow rapidly across the globe. Electric cars and heat pumps, as well as many low-carbon industrial processes, require electricity rather than oil and gas. The growth in renewable energy supply means that additional demand will be met entirely by generation from wind, solar, nuclear, and other clean energy sources. During the 2024-2025 period, renewable energy will account for “more than one-third of total electricity generation globally,” according to IEA estimates.