by Jbs060509 a3 — June 12, 2009—At the recent G8 Energy Ministerial Meeting in Rome, the International Energy Agency (IEA) predicted that global electricity consumption will fall this year for the first time since 1945, according to a newsletter from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE). IEA says the global economic downturn has caused an unprecedented slowdown in the demand growth for electricity.
IEA projected a drop of as much as 3.5 percent in global electricity demand in 2009. Three-quarters of the decline is attributed to reduced industrial use, with reduced manufacturing in China and India having significant impact.
Previously, global electricity demand, as measured by IEA, had increased almost 25 percent between 2000 and 2006.
IEA also told the energy ministers that global investment in renewable energy could drop as much as 38 percent in 2009, compared to its peak investment year of 2007. Investment in renewable energy assets had surged in recent years, recording year-on-year growth of 85 percent in 2007. But activities slowed in 2008 as sources of finance contracted and lower fossil fuel prices reduced the economic incentive for new investment, particularly in the last few months of the year.
According to IEA, the slump in renewable energy investment accelerated in the first quarter of 2009, although the agency acknowledges that government incentives offered in the U.S. Recovery Act will help, to some extent, offset the investment slowdown, notes EERE.
Long-term growth in global electricity demand and increasing investment in renewable energy technologies are both expected to pick up following the current recession and continue recent rapid growth patterns.
