Harsh climate increases power outages worldwide

United States – Several countries have suffered repeated power outages in recent weeks, while others have prepared programs to schedule power outages in the event of high demand.

This comes amid rising temperatures in countries such as Kuwait, Egypt, Tunisia and Iraq to levels that would not have been reached at this time of year, resulting in increased consumer demand for electricity.

While US states such as Virginia and Oregon experienced short-term outages during July due to high temperatures, areas such as Houston experienced outages due to storms caused by Hurricane Beryl, which hit the region earlier this month.

In Egypt, the country has been witnessing power outages lasting two hours a day since last summer, which increased to three hours earlier in June until today, due to increased demand and weak gas supplies to power plants.

Climate change and extreme weather combine all of the above examples, as countries around the world struggle to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050 on average.

** Climate change plans

The electricity crisis means that countries around the world need to increase energy supply to meet growing demand, either through traditional, polluting energy sources (coal, gas, and oil derivatives), renewable energy sources, or nuclear energy.

Currently, global demand for crude oil averages regarding 104 million barrels per day, a growth of 2 percent compared to 2023, while OPEC expects that peak oil demand is still far away, indicating continued growth.

While the global average demand for natural gas and liquefied gas is more than 4,000 billion cubic meters annually, and it continues to grow at an annual average of 2.5 percent over the next ten years, according to the International Energy Agency.

Climate change is widening vulnerabilities beyond developing economies; the recent energy crisis has hit more middle-income countries including energy-rich Mexico and Kuwait, as well as importers such as Albania.

** Spending in the trillions of dollars

Unstable power grids are causing confusion for companies, as expanding the global grid will cost regarding $24.1 trillion to meet net-zero emissions targets by 2050, according to a BloombergNEF survey.

A World Bank report, details of which were published by Bloomberg, shows that the world’s largest energy consumers need trillions of dollars in investments until 2030, as part of a journey that extends to 2050 to reach net-zero emissions.

For example, China needs $1.2 trillion in investments in renewable energy by 2030, as part of its pledge to reach net zero by mid-century.

While the United States needs regarding a trillion dollars to achieve the same goal, and to reduce dependence on traditional energy sources to generate electricity.

While India, which is facing financial challenges, needs $177 billion to invest in renewable energy, to meet the country’s growing demand for electricity.

** Poor production

Last year, a report showed that wind and solar power generation reached a record high, accounting for 12 percent of global electricity production in 2022, up from 10 percent in 2021.

The report issued by the independent research institution “Ember” concerned with climate and energy affairs, said that the year 2022 may witness the peak of emissions from the electricity sector, which is the world’s largest source of carbon dioxide emissions.

Ember studied electricity sector data from 78 countries in its annual report on world electricity, representing 93 percent of global electricity demand.

The report concluded that renewable and nuclear energy sources together accounted for 39 percent of global electricity production last year, meaning that conventional energy accounts for 61 percent.

Anatolia