According to the latest report "Electricity Grids and Secure Energy Transitions" released by the International Energy Agency, the world must add or replace 80 million kilometers of transmission lines by 2040 in order for countries to meet their climate goals and achieve energy security. Priorities. According to the International Energy Agency, this number is roughly equivalent to the total mileage of power grids in the world today.
The International Energy Agency says that a significant scale of global transmission line construction will require annual investment in grids of more than $600 billion by 2030, which is double the current level of global transmission line investment, and will also require changes in each country's grid operations and Supervision methods.
The International Energy Agency says global progress in clean energy technologies, including wind, solar, electric vehicles and heat pumps, is impressive, but insufficient investment in transmission lines will ultimately become a bigger bottleneck. Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency, said: “The progress we have seen recently in clean energy in many countries is unprecedented and warrants optimism, but if governments and businesses do not come together to ensure that the world’s power grids are ready for the rapidly emerging new As the global energy economy prepares for a global energy economy, clean energy may be at risk." Birol said: "This report of ours shows what is at stake and what needs to be done. We must invest in the grid today or face power transmission tomorrow. bottleneck."
There are currently 1,500 gigawatts of renewable clean energy projects around the world in what the International Energy Agency calls “the final stages of development,” waiting to be connected to the grid. The International Energy Agency said the 1,500 gigawatts of renewable clean energy projects waiting to be connected to the grid is five times the global installed wind and solar power generation capacity in 2022.
The International Energy Agency says the consequences of further delays in transmission line construction are serious. If grid growth is slow, nearly 60 billion tons of additional CO2 will be released between 2030 and 2050. This is equivalent to the global electricity sector’s emissions over the past four years, the International Energy Agency said.
The International Energy Agency said that in this scenario, global average temperatures in 2050 would be "well above" 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, the target of the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, with a likelihood of exceeding 2 degrees Celsius. 40%.
Construction of transmission lines takes a long time, especially compared to other parts of energy infrastructure. Building new transmission lines takes between five and 15 years, including planning and permitting. By comparison, new renewable energy projects take one to five years and new infrastructure to charge electric vehicles less than two years, the International Energy Agency said. Therefore, investment in transmission line infrastructure improvements and growth must now occur, otherwise it will become a larger and more limiting factor in global decarbonization plans.
The International Energy Agency says building transmission lines around the world needs to be a matter of international cooperation. "Ensuring that developing countries have the resources they need to build and modernize their power grids is an important task for the international community," Birol said in a written statement.