Governments will be asked to sign up to a goal to boost energy storage six-fold and renew or add 80 million km of electric grids, among other initiatives
Azerbaijan, which is hosting this year’s COP29 UN summit, this week announced 14 climate initiatives it hopes countries will sign up to, including one to promote energy storage and electric grids.
Governments are being asked by the COP29 presidency to back a pledge to increase global energy storage capacity six times above 2022 levels, reaching 1,500 gigawatts (GW) by 2030, and to add or refurbish more than 80 million kilometres of electricity grids by 2030. The voluntary initiatives are currently in draft form and will be finalised after consultation with states and other partners.
The targeted increase in the ability to store energy, mainly in batteries, is what the International Energy Agency (IEA) has said is needed to meet the goal set last year at COP28 to triple renewable energy capacity by 2030 while maintaining energy security.
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As renewable sources tend to produce more variable power than fossil fuels – generating it only when it is windy or sunny, or water is available – batteries and other forms of energy storage can help even out those peaks and troughs in electricity supply and keep homes and economies running.
How ambitious?
Iola Hughes, research manager at London-based battery consultancy Rho Motion, told Climate Home the COP29 target is not ambitious as it sounds.
Rho Motion predicts that by 2030, there will be 1,400 GW just from battery storage – so 1,500 GW of energy storage, which includes a non-battery method called pumped hydro, would not be a big jump.
The IEA forecasts that, under current policies, energy storage will reach 1,000 GW by 2030. Its “Net Zero Emissions scenario”, which is compatible with limiting global warming to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, includes 1,500 GW of energy storage by 2030.
Global installed energy storage capacity in 2023 (left), 2030 under the stated policies scenario (middle) and 2030 under a 1.5C-compatible Net Zero Emissions scenario (right). Light purple is utility-scale batteries, dark purple is behind-the-meter batteries and orange is pumped hydro (Photos: IEA)
Hughes said “the real challenge” will be ensuring that storage is installed on a global basis to support the adoption of renewables. The IEA expects that the vast majority of battery storage is likely to be in China and in advanced economies.
The IEA has said that rolling out battery storage “will require action from policy makers and industry, taking advantage of the fact that battery storage can be built in a matter of months in most locations”.
In a report on batteries released this April, it also said the supply of the minerals needed for them – like cobalt,