The world’s electricity use will grow every year by more than the amount consumed annually by Japan because of a surge in electric transport, air conditioning and datacentres, according to the world’s energy watchdog.
The International Energy Agency has raised its predictions for the world’s rising demand for electricity, pegging the growth at almost 4% a year until 2027, up from its previous forecast of 3.4% year.
The influential Paris-based agency said the “new age of electricity” was dawning as a result of the climate crisis as more people begin to use air conditioning to cope with extreme temperature rises and economies begin to turn away from using fossil fuels in favour of cleaner power.
More governments are taking steps to rely on electricity for transport and heating systems as well as heavy industry, according to the report, and there is also expected to be a rapid expansion of energy-hungry datacentres used to train artificial intelligence (AI).
The forecasts are likely to stoke fears that the race to build more datacentres to support the boom in AI could become a drain on energy supplies, causing costs to rocket and stalling efforts to cut fossil fuels from power generation.
The race to consume more electricity will be led by China, where demand grew by 7% last year, and could grow by 6% a year over the next three years, in part due to a boom in its manufacturing of solar panels, batteries and electric vehicles.
Rising demand in the US is expected to add the equivalent of California’s current power consumption to the national total by 2027. In the European Union, growth is forecast to be more modest, returning to its 2021 levels by 2027, after a crash in demand over recent years triggered by surging costs during the energy crisis.
Keisuke Sadamori, a director at the IEA, said: “The acceleration of global electricity demand highlights the significant changes taking place in energy systems around the world and the approach of a new age of electricity. But it also presents evolving challenges for governments in ensuring a secure, affordable and sustainable electricity supply.”
Dave Jones, a director at global energy thinktank Ember, said that although the world’s growing stock of clean energy projects would keep pace with the faster than expected growth in electricity use, it would not rise fast enough to displace the existing fossil fuel electricity used today.
“More investment in clean electricity is needed, otherwise coal and gas generation could be at the same record levels in 2027 as they were in 2024,” Jones said. “The age of electricity has to be the age of clean electricity to realise the cost, security and climate benefits of electrification.”
