Global electricity development and transition: Progress and assessment

Electricity is attracting widespread attention for its critical role in global socioeconomic development, the clean energy transition, and climate change mitigation. Based on a newly established global database and a multi-level, multi-dimensional assessment framework, this study systematically evaluates the current status and recent progress of global electricity development and transition. Since 2020, global electricity development and transition have been characterized by four trends: electrification of energy consumption, the shift to clean electricity generation, wide-area electricity allocation, and digital-intelligent system operation. In 2024, global electricity consumption grew by approximately 4%, surpassing the growth rates of both total energy consumption and the global economy (GDP). Concurrently, the global electrification rate reached around 20%, total installed generation capacity exceeded 9.4 TW, the total length of power grid lines surpassed 80 million km, and installed energy storage capacity reached approximately 290 GW, with all metrics setting new record highs. A key transition milestone was also achieved in 2024: clean energy accounted for over 50% of global total installed capacity for the first time. The global electricity carbon intensity saw the largest drop (3%) in a decade. This study further provides a quantitative outlook to 2030, projecting that clean energy will account for 67% of global installed capacity and 59% of electricity generation, thereby achieving a clean-dominated power supply structure. Finally, it also outlines recommendations such as prioritizing power system flexibility and climate resilience, advancing research on evolving system operational dynamics, promoting the fusion and widespread adoption of new technologies and models, and enhancing international cooperation for sharing cost-effective technologies, replicable models, and expertise to address ongoing challenges and advance global targets.