[Cable Network News] Energy think tank Ember said on Wednesday that the growth of global electricity demand in the first half of 2021 exceeded the growth of clean electricity, which led to the growth of emission-intensive coal power, and the global power sector’s emissions exceeded pre-pandemic levels .
For India, due to the second round of the epidemic, the growth of solar (plus 47%) and wind (plus 9%) has met nearly three-quarters (72%) of demand growth.
However, coal power generation has increased by 4% to fill the remaining demand gap and to fill the reduced hydropower generation. The continuing impact of the 2021 (H1-2021) pandemic has kept India's electricity demand low, with coal rising the least. The electricity demand in the first half of 2021 is only 3% higher than the level in the first half of 2019.
Dave Jones, Ember’s global head, said: “The ejection emissions in 2021 should be a wake-up call around the world. We are not rebuilding better. The lightning-fast power transition in this decade is critical to limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees. The power transition is happening, but it is not urgent."
The Global Electricity Review released by Ember mid-year updated analysis of electricity data from 63 countries and regions, accounting for 87% of electricity demand. It compares the first six months of 2021 (H1-2021) with the same period of 2019 (H1-2019) to show for the first time how the power transition has changed as the world rebounds from the impact of the 2020 pandemic.
The report shows that emissions from the global power sector rebounded in the first half of 2021, increasing from the low point in the first half of 2020, and emissions are now 5% higher than pre-pandemic levels.
Compared with pre-pandemic levels, global electricity demand also increased by 5% in the first half of 2021, which was mainly met by wind and solar power (57%), but emissions-intensive coal power (43%) also increased capacity. Natural gas has hardly changed, while hydropower and nuclear power have declined slightly.
For the first time, wind and solar power generation exceeded 10% of global power generation and surpassed nuclear power generation. Many countries have pledged to "rebuild better" and push their economies into a new green normal.
However, the analysis shows that no country’s power sector has achieved a true “green recovery”: structural changes that increase power demand and reduce carbon dioxide emissions from the power sector.
Although Norway and Russia appear in the "green recovery" quadrant, this is due to temporary factors — mainly better rains leading to higher hydroelectric power generation — rather than major structural improvements in the power sector.
Compared with pre-pandemic levels, several countries including the United States, the European Union, Japan, and South Korea have achieved lower carbon dioxide emissions in the power sector. Wind and solar energy have replaced coal, but only in the context of suppressed power demand growth. Down.
As coal power generation and wind and solar power increase, countries with increased power demand also have higher emissions. Most of these countries are located in Asia. The fastest growth in electricity demand is in Mongolia, China, and Bangladesh. Bangladesh is the only country that has not increased clean electricity.
Vietnam is the only country with a "gray recovery" where solar and wind energy meet all the growth in electricity demand. However, due to the shift from natural gas power generation to coal power generation, the power sector's carbon dioxide emissions still increased by 4%.
Ember’s senior analyst said: “Developing Asian countries must focus on meeting all demand growth through new zero-carbon electricity as the first step towards achieving 100% clean electricity in the region by the middle of this century. The developing Asia can skip fossil energy and switch directly to cheap, clean renewable energy. But it depends on whether the region can further accelerate the pace of clean electricity while making more efficient use of electricity."
