World electricity grids must be modernised and expanded to avoid missing the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). Increased battery storage and the development of microgrids can act as alternatives in some cases, it said.
A new report, Electricity Grids and Secure Energy Transitions, finds grids are not keeping pace with the rapid growth of key clean energy technologies such as solar, wind and electric vehicles (EVs).
Achieving all national climate and energy goals will require adding or replacing 80 million km of power lines by 2040, the report stated. That equals the entire existing global grid. A detailed country-by-country analysis was carried out for the report.
The agency said major changes to grid operations and regulation are also essential. Annual investment in grids needs to double to more than $600 billion a year by 2030. “New technologies and practices, such as increased battery storage and the development of microgrids, can act as alternatives to traditional infrastructure buildout in some cases, but we need new poles and wires too,” the report stated.
The adoption of new technologies such as EVs and heat pumps means electricity is expanding into realms previously dominated by fossil fuels, it said. Countries are quickly adding renewable energy projects and they require more power lines to connect to electricity systems and distribution grids.
Anticipatory planning for the needs of distributed energy resources can help ensure grids are not a barrier to their deployment, it noted. It singled out Hokkaido electric power network company’s planning for hosting grid-connected redox flow batteries.
The report examines what would happen if urgently needed grid investment is not increased quickly enough and regulatory reform is slow. It stated cumulative CO2 emissions between 2030 and 2050 would be almost 60 billion tonnes higher due to a slower rollout of renewables and ensuing higher fossil fuel consumption.
It would, it said, put the global temperature rise well above the Paris Agreement target of 1.5°C, with a 40% chance of exceeding 2°C.
New grid infrastructure often takes 5–15 years to plan, permit and complete. In contrast, new renewables projects take one to five years, and new charging infrastructure for EVs less than two, it said.
