Global electricity demand in 2024 and 2025 is set to grow at the highest levels in the past two decades,  thanks to robust economic growth, intense heatwaves and increasing uptake of technologies that run on electricity, according to a report released by the IEA.

In its report titled Electricity Mid-Year Update, the IEA claimed that global electricity demand will increase by 4% in 2024, up from 2.5% in 2023, representing the highest annual growth rate since 2007 when factoring out the intense but short-term rebounds seen in the wake of the financial crisis and the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to the report, global electricity consumption will grow by 4% again in 2025.

Keisuke Sadamori, IEA director of energy markets and security, said: “Growth in global electricity demand this year and next is set to be among the fastest in the past two decades, highlighting the growing role of electricity in our economies as well as the impacts of severe heatwaves.”

Solar power is expected to accommodate for half the increase in electricity consumption, with the renewable source set to break new production records, according to the report.

The report added that renewable sources of electricity are set to expand rapidly in 2024 and 2025, with their share of global electricity supply rising from 30% in 2023 to 35% in 2025.

However, despite the IEA’s positivity, a recent report published by the International Renewable Energy Agency suggested that the world will fail to meet its renewable energy capacity targets by 2030 if capacity continues to grow at its current rate.

“It is encouraging to see clean energy’s share of the electricity mix continuing to rise, but this needs to happen at a much faster rate to meet international energy and climate goals,” said Sadamori. “At the same time, it is crucial to expand and reinforce grids to provide citizens with secure and reliable electricity supply – and to implement higher energy efficiency standards to reduce the impacts of increased cooling demand on power systems.”