India Sees Second Largest Rise In Energy Demand Globally: IEA

A recent report by the International Energy Agency (IEA) highlights that India has become the second-largest contributor to the rise in global energy demand. The report states that India’s energy demand increase surpassed the combined growth of all advanced economies. This comes as global energy demand grew by 2.2% in 2024, exceeding the average growth rate of the past decade.

Talking about the rise in global power demand, the IEA report said, “ The increase was led by the power sector as electricity demand surged by 4.3%, well above the 3.2% growth in global GDP, driven by record temperatures, electrification, and digitalisation. Renewables accounted for most of the growth in global energy supply (38%), followed by natural gas (28%), coal (15%), oil (11%) and nuclear (8%).”

The report said that intense heatwaves drove coal use higher in both China and India,  which together represented the large majority of the global demand increase of around 65 million tonnes of coal equivalent (Mtce). The report also said that in 2024, 80% of the growth in global electricity generation was provided by renewable sources and nuclear power.

“Together, they contributed 40% of total generation for the first time, with renewables alone supplying 32%. New renewables installations hit record levels for the 22nd consecutive year, with around 700 GW of total renewable capacity added in 2024, nearly 80% of which was solar PV. Generation from solar PV and wind increased by a record 670 TWh, while generation from natural gas rose by 170 TWh and coal by 90 TWh,” the report said.

Indian Power Scenario

The report said that India’s share of energy demand was significant in Asia. “…despite this deceleration, four-fifths of total global energy demand growth still took place in emerging market and developing economies, with three-fifths of the total in Developing Asia. Growth in India alone was more than the increase in demand in all advanced economies combined,” the report said. The report also said that the coal demand in India rose by 5.5% in 2024.

“In India, the world’s second-largest coal consumer, demand grew by around 5.5% or 40 Mtce in 2024, also reaching a new all-time high. Strong economic growth pushed up coal consumption in both the power and industry sectors. Coal power generation – which makes up nearly three-quarters of coal demand in India – grew by 5% in 2024 mirroring growth in electricity demand. Steel production grew by 6.3% in 2024. Coal-based sponge iron production increased by 10% and hot metal production increased by 4.4%, boosting industrial coal use,” the report said.

Rise in Indian solar additions 

The report said that solar installations created new records in countries like US, India and Brazil. While US added around 5o GW of new solar capacity, India added 30 GW.

“Three major solar PV markets saw record levels of expansion in 2024: the United States, India and Brazil. In the United States, almost 50 GW of new solar PV capacity was added to the grid, shattering the previous record in 2023. India installed around 30 GW, almost tripling the previous year’s solar PV growth, while Brazil added over 16.5 GW thanks to large utility-scale additions, which supplemented the continued roll-out of distributed resources driven by a net metering scheme,” the report said.