According to the agency, 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.
With the world’s demand for electricity growing the agency is forecasting annual growth of around 4% a year until 2027, up from its previous estimate of 3.4% year.
Its talk of a ‘new age of electricity’ is a result of climate change which is seeing more people begin to use air conditioning to cope with extreme temperature rises and economies moving to adopt cleaner power.
Globally, an increasing number of governments are turning to electricity for transport and heating systems as well as heavy industry. The expected rapid expansion of energy-hungry datacentres used to train artificial intelligence (AI) is also expected to have a significant impact on electricity demand.
It’s that race to build more datacentres to support the boom in AI that is raising concerns. Recent announcements by the UK and French governments are typical with plans to roll out new data centres putting increased strain on energy supplies and in some cases antiquated energy systems. Consequently, we could see energy prices rocket and efforts to cut the use of fossil fuels from power generation stalled.
China saw demand for electricity up 7% last year, and that could grow by 6% a year over the next three years. According to the IEA that’s being driven by manufacturing of solar panels, batteries and electric vehicles.
Likewise, demand is soaring in the US and has started to recover in the EU, which was impacted by the energy crisis following the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
According to Dave Jones, a director at global energy thinktank Ember, the world’s growing stock of clean energy projects is unlikely to keep pace with demand.
“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 warned. “The age of electricity has to be the age of clean electricity to realise the cost, security and climate benefits of electrification.”
