The International Energy Agency (IEA) Electricity mid-year update report forecasts that global electricity demand will grow by 4% in 2024 and continue to rise in 2025. Solar is expected to meet roughly half of this growth in demand.

The report explores the latest data for 2023 and 2024, and uses it to forecast global electricity demand for 2025.

The report also explores supply by fuel type and CO2 emissions from the power sector, and analyses the latest developments in major markets, including China, the US, the European Union and India.

The findings reveal that global electricity demand will grow by around 4% in 2024, up from 2.5% in 2023 – the highest annual growth rate since 2007. This 4% growth is set to continue into 2025.

Global economic growth, intense heatwaves and increasing uptake of technologies including electric vehicles (EVs) and heat pumps are behind the rapid growth.

Keisuke Sadamori, IEA director of energy markets and security, said: “Growth in global electricity demand...