Yemisi Izuora
Global electricity demand witnessed a 3.1 per cent jump in 2017 with major contribution coming from China and India. The two nations together accounted for 70 per cent of the rise, International Energy Agency said in a report.
With a third of the world’s population currently residing in India and China, the two countries accounted for a total of 540 Terra Watt Hour (TWh) of electricity demand growth in 2017, out of the global increase of 780 TWh. This global rise in electricity was significantly higher than the overall increase in the energy demand.
The Paris-based agency also said in its Global Energy and CO2 status report 2017 that India has made significant strides in improving access to electricity, with half a billion people having gained electricity since 2000 and a near-doubling of the access rate, to 82 per cent of the population now, up from 43 per cent in 2000.
“Electricity demand growth in emerging economies remains strongly linked to rising economic output. In China, the robust economic growth of nearly seven per cent and a warm summer drove electricity demand up by six per cent (or 360 TWh). In India, demand growth of over 12 per cent (or 180 TWh) outpaced the seven per cent growth in economic activity,” IEA said. Apart from these two nations, another 10 per cent global electricity demand was registered by other emerging economies in Asia.
The report further stated that output from nuclear plants rose by 26 TWh in 2017, as a notable amount of new nuclear capacity saw its first full year of operation.
With average demand for electricity increasing by less than 1 per cent, advance economies accounted for only 10 per cent of electricity demand growth. In developed countries like the United States, electricity demand fell by almost 80 TWh compared to 2016. And in the European Union, electricity demand growth of 2.3 per cent (or 75 TWh) matched the estimated 2.3 per cent growth in the economic output. In Japan, the electricity demand also witnessed a rise by around 15 TWh.