According to the 1st Ever ‘Electricity Market Report’ 2020 produced by International Energy Agency (IEA), the Global electricity demand is expected to fall by 2% due to Pandemic. The decline is the biggest annual decline since the mid-20th century. The 2% drop is larger than the drop in electricity demand of 0.6% due to the 2009 Global Financial Crisis.
i.The report has also stated that the global electricity demand will grow by 3 % in 2021 and it will be driven by China and India.
ii.The report compares 2020 trends and 2021 forecasts of electricity demand, supply, capacity and emissions at Global and country level.
Key Points:
i.China is the only major economy to see higher electricity demand in 2020.
ii.Renewable electricity generation is expected to grow by 7% in 2020. The major causes being Long-term contracts, priority access to grid and sustained installation of new plants.
iii.The report has noted decline in Conventional Power Generators in 2020 – Coal-fired generation set to fall by 5% in 2020, Nuclear power generation to fall by 4% in 2020 & Gas-fired electricity generation which is expected to fall by 2%.
iv.Globally, CO2 emission caused due to electricity generation is expected to fall by 5 % in 2020.
v.Global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is expected to decline by 4.4% compared to 2019, it is the worst decline since 1960.
Countries which saw Largest Decrease:
i.The Countries which saw the Largest Decrease in Electricity Demand are Italy, the United Kingdom and Spain – 6%, France & Germany – 5%.
ii.Countries where most electricity consumption is in industrial or residential sectors were less affected.
Regarding India:
i.The expected decline of electricity demand in India in 2020 is around 2%.
ii.The electricity demand declined to reach a 28% reduction in the end of March, 2020 due to lockdown imposed by the Government of India.
iii.However after relaxation the demand recovered, reaching 2019 levels by August 2020.
iv.Conventional energy generation still dominates India’s capacity, coal and lignite makeup 205 GigaWatts (GW) (55%) and gas represents 25 GW (7%) of 373 GW total capacity.
2 Historical milestones achieved by India in 2020:
The report has highlighted 2 historical milestones achieved by India in 2020
i.Launching of Indian Energy Exchange Limited (IEX), a real-time market (RTM) on June 1, 2020.
ii.Launching of Green Term Ahead Market (GTAM), which is World’s 1st Exclusive Product Market for the renewable energy sector.
Recent Related News:
i.May 7, 2020, According to IEA India’s energy demand has faced a 30% decrease due to 40 days’ lockdown to contain COVID-19.
ii.On September 1, 2020, Minister of State (MoS) (Independent Charge) for Power and New & Renewable Energy Raj Kumar Singh launched the Pan-India Green Term Ahead Market (GTAM) in New Delhi virtually, for electricity.
About International Energy Agency (IAE):
Executive Director – Fatih Birol
Headquarters – Paris, France
