IEA: Clean Energy Market Tracker March 2024

The IEA has released its "Clean Energy Market Tracker to March 2024". In 2023, global clean energy deployment reaches new highs, with annual growth rates of 85% for solar PV and 60% for wind. New capacity for both technologies reaches nearly 540 GW, with China accounting for the majority. Clean energy deployment in 2023 remains too concentrated in developed economies and China, with the rest of the world continuing to lag far behind. In 2023, China and developed economies account for 90% of new global wind and solar PV capacity and more than 95% of global electric vehicle sales.

Electric vehicle sales will grow by about 35% to 14 million in 2023, accounting for one-fifth of global sales. China will once again lead the way, with one-third of cars sold being electric, while in the EU, the proportion is one-quarter.

In contrast, global heat pump sales fell slightly from the record level in 2022.

In 2023, new nuclear power installed capacity will drop to 5.5 gigawatts.

Five new nuclear reactor projects start construction in 2023. At the beginning of 2024, there are 58 reactors under construction worldwide, with a total capacity of more than 60 GW.

In 2023, hydrogen electrolyser capacity increased by 360%, but from a low base.

Our latest assessment shows that in 2023, energy intensity will improve by about 1%, four times lower than the COP28 commitment to double the long-term rate of improvement in energy intensity by 2030.

Deployment of five key clean energy technologies – solar PV, wind, nuclear, electric vehicles and heat pumps – would avoid around 25 EJ of fossil fuel energy demand per year between 2019 and 2023. This is equivalent to 5% of total global fossil fuel demand across all sectors in 2023.

The avoided coal demand is about 580 million tons of coal equivalent per year. This is 30% higher than the actual increase in global annual coal demand from 2019 to 2023 (about 440 million tons of standard coal). The biggest driver of reduced coal demand is the deployment of solar photovoltaic and wind power in the global power industry, which reduce annual coal demand by about 320 million tons and 235 million tons respectively.

In terms of energy equivalent, the avoided gas demand is about 180 billion cubic meters per year. This is almost twice the annual increase in global gas demand from 2019 to 2023.

In terms of energy equivalent, the reduction in oil demand is close to 1 million barrels per day.

The deployment of solar PV, wind, nuclear, electric vehicles and heat pumps could avoid around 2.2 billion tonnes (Gt) of emissions per year from 2019 to 2023.

Globally, the deployment of solar PV has reduced emissions by about 1.1 billion tonnes per year over the past five years.