World’s Electric Grids Incapable of Supporting Renewable Energy Goals: Agency

While investments in renewable energy have doubled since 2010, power grid funding has remained ‘static.’

Electricity pylons stand in a row leading to the Unterweser nuclear power plant on March 21, 2011 near Stadland, Germany. The energy grid is among the critical infrastructures that experts are trying to protect from cyberattacks. Sean Gallup/Getty Images

Electricity grid capacity available in the world isn’t keeping pace with the rapid growth of “clean energy” technologies, possibly putting governments’ climate goals at risk, according to a recent report by the International Energy Agency (IEA).

In order to achieve climate goals set by global governments, more than 80 million kilometers (49.7 million miles) of electric grids have to be added or refurbished by 2040, which is the “equivalent of the entire existing global grid,” according to the Oct. 17 IEA report. Even though “electrification and renewables deployment are both picking up pace,” there is a risk of the clean energy transition stalling due to a lack of “adequate grids to connect the new electricity supply with the demand.”