Energy
Wednesday, October 18th, 2023 2:16 pm EDT
Key Points
- Massive Transmission Line Requirement: According to a report by the International Energy Agency (IEA), the world needs to add or replace approximately 49.7 million miles of transmission lines by 2040 to meet climate goals and ensure energy security. This is approximately equivalent to the current total length of electric grid infrastructure globally.
- High Investment Needed: Achieving this extensive scale-up in transmission line construction would require annual investments of over $600 billion per year in electric grids by 2030, which is double the current global investment levels in transmission lines.
- Bottleneck in Clean Energy Transition: While there has been substantial focus on clean energy technologies such as wind, solar, electric vehicles, and heat pumps, investment in transmission lines has been inadequate, potentially becoming a significant bottleneck in the transition to clean energy. Failure to invest in grid infrastructure improvements could jeopardize progress in clean energy and result in dire consequences, including increased carbon emissions and a risk of missing climate targets. International cooperation is deemed essential to tackle this challenge and ensure that developing nations have the resources needed to modernize their electricity grids.
A new report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) highlights the need to add or replace 49.7 million miles of transmission lines by 2040 for countries to meet their climate goals and ensure energy security. This scale of expansion in global transmission lines will require an annual investment of over $600 billion per year by 2030, double the current global investment levels. The IEA emphasizes the inadequacy of investment in transmission lines, despite significant progress in clean energy technologies such as wind, solar, electric vehicles, and heat pumps. Failure to address this bottleneck could jeopardize clean energy progress.
Currently, there are 1,500 gigawatts of renewable clean energy projects in advanced stages of development worldwide waiting to connect to the electric grid. To put this in perspective, a mid-sized city requires a gigawatt of electricity. The IEA points out that the 1,500 gigawatts of renewable projects represent five times the total wind and solar power added globally in 2022.
Failure to invest in transmission lines will have dire consequences. In a scenario referred to as the “Grid Delay Case,” almost 60 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions will be released between 2030 and 2050, equivalent to the power sector’s emissions over the past four years worldwide. This would lead to global temperature averages in 2050 exceeding the 1.5 degrees Celsius target set by the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, with a 40% chance of overshooting 2 degrees.
Building new transmission lines takes considerable time, ranging from five to 15 years, including planning and permitting, whereas renewable energy projects take between one and five years, and electric vehicle charging infrastructure takes less than two years. Therefore, addressing transmission line infrastructure growth and improvement is an immediate necessity to support global decarbonization efforts. The IEA emphasizes that international cooperation is crucial for building transmission lines, especially in the developing world, to ensure access to the resources needed for grid modernization.
For the full original article on CNBC, please click here: https://www.cnbc.com/2023/10/17/world-must-add-or-replace-50-million-miles-of-transmission-lines-iea.html
