IEA

The world has firmly crossed into the “Age of Electricity.” That is a unifying finding in the International Energy Agency’s (IEA’s) 2025 edition of the World Energy Outlook (WEO), which shows a global

Data center demands are shifting rapidly in today’s energy landscape. A customer that signed on for 10 MW just months ago may now be requesting 40. For energy suppliers across the country, scenarios like this are becoming the new normal as artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure accelerates load growth and turns predictable load patterns into risky […]

India added 4 GW of coal-fired power generation capacity this year, according to the country’s Central Electricity Authority, about the same amount of new coal-based generation it added in 2023. Last year’s total was the highest level of new coal-fired capacity added in the country since 2019. The Indian government has said the country plans […]

The International Energy Agency (IEA) in a new report said global use of coal, including for power generation, is expected to reach a record 8.77 billion tonnes this year. The group said China’s continued use of coal in its power plants, along with the impacts of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on global gas markets, means […]

Driven by artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing, and the digital transformation, U.S. data centers consumed an estimated 150 TWh of electricity in 2023—equivalent to around 3% of the nation’s power demand. Globally, data center demand hovered at 340 TWh in 2023—about 1.3% of worldwide electricity use. Multiple sources project this demand will surge dramatically through […]

Egypt Reducing Renewable Energy Target. Karim Badawi, petroleum minister for Egypt, said the country has cut the amount of renewable energy it will likely have online by 2040. Badawi on Oct. 20, speaking at

A Kentucky-based group has announced plans to build a 6-GW fleet of nuclear power stations in the U.S., looking to take advantage of bipartisan support for nuclear technology and the need to build more baseload, zero-carbon sources of energy. The Nuclear Company, headquartered in Lexington, said its business model would lean on “proven, licensed technology […]

PARIS/LONDON/BRUSSELS – Students from the Texas Christian University Neeley School of Business met with influential leaders throughout Europe as part of their course, “The Geopolitics of Energy.” The students and instructors from the Ralph Lowe Energy Institute held discussions with the International Energy Agency in Paris (see photo), the Energy Directorate of the European Commission […]

Fifty years after the first global oil shock in 1973, the world’s energy sector is again facing high geopolitical tensions and uncertainty—though this time around, “pressures are coming from multiple

Despite a dismal outlook for coal, countries with substantial coal fleets are intensifying efforts to develop new technologies and operational capabilities to improve coal power’s environmental impact

Renewables are far from the primary power source in the U.S. No longer is the cost of renewable energy, particularly onshore wind and solar, the most substantial hurdle to the energy transition. New obstacles loom large. Predominant among these is connecting the infrastructure dots between new alternative sources and the current grid, all while maintaining […]

A project to deploy a 1.5-MW commercial-scale ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) platform in the African island nation of São Tomé and Príncipe by 2025 has gained a key design certification. The crucial

The International Energy Agency (IEA) expects investment in clean energy technologies, including “renewable power, nuclear, grids, storage, low-emission fuels, efficiency improvements and end-use renewables and electrification,” to exceed $1.7 trillion in 2023, the most ever. Yet, even as clean energy investments grow, more than $1 trillion is expected to be invested in unabated fossil fuel […]

The recent shake-up in natural gas markets and their ensuing impact on energy security, and geopolitical tension, dramatically altered the trajectory of global coal-fired generation, sending it soaring to

While 2021 provided its own share of extraordinary energy debacles, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in early 2022 cascaded into full-blown energy turmoil. This year will begin with the world “in the midst of

Every month, POWER magazine publishes several articles in its Global Monitor section covering topics important to the electric power generation industry. The articles typically feature interesting updates on progress made at notable projects around the world, big policy changes, or promising research and development (R&D) news. Short notes about major contracts are also touched on […]

A wave of retirements for U.S. coal-fired power plants continues, with the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reporting almost a quarter of the nation’s remaining facilities could be shuttered by the end of 2029. The EIA in its preliminary monthly electric generator inventory report released Nov. 7 said that 23% of the nearly 201 GW of […]

European leaders should minimize gas use in the power sector and temporarily ramp up coal- and oil-fired generation while accelerating low-carbon sources to guard against energy market turmoil that has grown “especially perilous,” the head of the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on July 18. “I’m particularly concerned about the months ahead,” wrote IEA Executive […]

The International Energy Agency (IEA) is urging the development of more diverse solar PV supply chains, suggesting the sector’s heavy reliance on China has led to imbalances that pose risks to its future growth. A dedicated study of the world’s solar PV supply chain issued by the Paris-based autonomous intergovernmental organization on July 7 acknowledges that government […]

While 2021 unfolded with some relief from the chaotic global pandemic that jolted the world in 2020, the year may be remembered for its extraordinary series of energy crises. After a cold snap prompted mass

The shift to a clean energy system is set to drive a significant increase in requirements for critical minerals. Under an International Energy Agency (IEA) scenario that meets the Paris Agreement goals, clean energy technologies’ share of total critical mineral demand will likely soar over the next two decades to over 40% for copper and […]

Building new solar PV plants and wind farms, and supporting an expansion of electric vehicles (EVs) and green hydrogen as is planned to meet decarbonization goals, will dramatically expand demand for copper

China in late June began operating two of the world’s first 1-GW hydropower turbines at the Baihetan Hydropower Station in southwest China. When the project’s 16 generating units are completed by July 2022

The U.S., UK and other countries want world governments to commit to a phaseout of the use and financing of coal-fired power generation, but officials who met at the G20 Environment Ministers Meeting summit in Naples, Italy, this past week ended their talks without an agreement on the future of the fuel. The topic will […]

Shell Energy has started up a 10-MW polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) electrolyzer facility—one of the largest of its kind in the world—to produce green hydrogen at its Energy and Chemicals Park Rheinland refinery in Wesseling, Germany, and it says plans are underway to expand the plant’s capacity to 100 MW.  The startup of the electrolyzer […]

European Commission Probing Germany Lignite Power Compensation. The European Commission on March 2 opened an “in-depth investigation” to assess whether Germany’s plans to compensate its lignite-fired

Roiled over 2020 by the COVID-19 pandemic, two much-watched international power market outlooks surveying short-term and long-term implications caution the road ahead will be ridden by complexity. The

By 2025, the economics of low-carbon generation technologies are poised to disrupt conventional fossil fuel generation so dramatically, onshore wind could have the lowest levelized costs of electricity (LCOE) on average, and nuclear power could emerge as the dispatchable low-carbon technology with the lowest expected costs.  Those are key findings in the Dec. 9-issued 2020 […]

At the virtual 2nd Global Ministerial Conference on System Integration of Renewables on Oct. 27, several high-ranking policymakers pointed to a number of localized challenges affecting their countries’

The world’s power generation is about to become even more green, according to a new publication from the International Energy Agency (IEA). The group on Nov. 10 published its “Renewables 2020″ report, and highlighted how generation capacity from both wind and solar will double across the next five years and surpass global generation from both […]