According to a new report by the International Energy Agency (IEA), Energy Technology Perspectives (ETP 2014), electricity is going to play a defining role by 2050 as the energy carrier that increasingly powers economic growth and development. The report focuses on the convergence of two trends: rapidly rising global electricity demand and the evident need for increased system integration. Electricity’s overall share of total energy demand has roughly doubled over the last 40 years, but the bulk of power generation today is hardly “low-carbon”. Electricity production uses 40% of primary energy and produces an equal share of energy-related CO2 emissions. However, cost-effective, practical solutions can increase efficiency, moderate electricity demand and decarbonise almost all power generation by 2050. An additional US$44 trillion in investment is needed to secure a clean-energy future by 2050, but this represents only a small portion of global GDP and is offset by over US$115 trillion in fuel savings.
Natural gas can, in the short term, play a dual role of replacing coal and supporting integration of VRE. But in the medium to longer term, gas must be seen as a transitional fuel, not a low-carbon solution unless it is coupled with CCS. Electricity storage can play multiple roles in an integrated system, as can other technologies with which it must compete. Contrary to many other voices, ETP analysis finds that electricity storage alone is not an indispensable game changer for the future energy system. Electricity could be the key to weaning the transportation sector off its oil addiction, but not all regions are at the same level of readiness to take that leap.