New Delhi: India’s renewable generation is expected to increase by 30 per cent by 2024 relative to 2021, according to a recent report by the International Energy Agency (IEA).It added that it was driven by state and central auctions, and India’s target of 450 GW of installed renewable capacity. “As India’s demand for electricity continues to grow, the expansion of generation capacity accelerates from 2022 onwards. While we expect 48 per cent of new demand to be met by coal-fired generation, low-carbon sources provide about half of the additional supply,” said the report titled ‘Electricity Market Report’. It said that new records for renewable capacity addition are expected in 2021 and 2022, principally wind and solar PV and added that renewables will provide 35 per cent of the incremental demand, with nuclear largely accounting for the balance. According to the report, global electricity demand surged in 2021, creating strains in major markets, pushing prices to unprecedented levels and driving the power sector’s emissions to a record high. “Driven by the rapid economic rebound, a colder than average winter and a warmer than average summer, last year’s 6 per cent rise in global electricity demand was the largest in percentage terms since 2010 when the world was recovering from the global financial crisis,” it said. The report further added that last year’s increase of over 1,500 terawatt-hours was the largest ever, in absolute terms. “Electricity produced from renewable sources grew by 6 per cent in 2021, but it was not enough to keep up with galloping demand. Coal-fired generation grew by 9 per cent, serving more than half of the increase in demand,” IEA said in its report. In total, carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from power generation rose by 7 per cent, also reaching a record high, after having declined the two previous years. For 2022-2024, the report anticipates electricity demand growing 2.7 per cent a year on average, although the Covid-19 pandemic and high energy prices bring some uncertainty to this outlook. Renewables are set to grow by 8 per cent per year on average, serving more than 90 per cent of net demand growth during this period, according to the report. Fossil fuel-based generation is expected to stagnate in the coming years, with coal-fired generation falling slightly as phase-outs and declining competitiveness in the United States and Europe are balanced by growth in markets like China and India, it added.