News | Headlines
Growth in energy demand doubled in 2024
Worldwide Energy demand The International Energy Agency has released its latest Global Energy Review, its first global assessment of 2024 trends across the entire energy sector. It confirms its earlier assessment that global energy demand grew at a faster-than- average pace in 2024 as the consumption of electricity rose around the world – with increased supply of renewables and natural gas covering the majority of additional energy needs. This latest report, which is based on the most recent data, covers energy demand, supply, the uptake of new technologies and
energy-related carbon dioxide emissions. The report finds that global energy demand rose by 2.2% last year – lower than GDP growth of 3.2% but considerably greater than the average annual demand increase of 1.3% between 2013 and 2023. Emerging and developing economies accounted for over 80% of the increase in demand in 2024, despite slower growth in China. Notably, after several years of decline, advanced economies saw a return to growth, with their energy demand increasing by almost 1% in aggregate. Record temperatures, which boosting cooling demand, contributed significantly to the annual
0.8% rise in global CO2 emissions to 37.8 billion
tonnes – highlighting the deepening links between the energy sector, climate and weather. However, according to the report, the deployment of solar PV, wind, nuclear, electric cars and heat pumps since 2019 now prevents 2.6 billion tonnes of CO2
annually, the
equivalent of 7% of global emissions. For more information read the energy demand full report
https://www.iea.org/ reports/global-energy-review-2025?utm_ campaign=IEA+newsletters&utm_ medium=Email&utm_source=SendGrid
‘Historic’ German spending package gets final approval Germany Finance
Germany’s major spending package that contains a reform of the country’s debt brake and hundreds of billions of euros of investments in defence, infrastructure and climate action has cleared the last hurdle, reports online news agency CLEW, as the Council of Federal States (Bundesrat) approved the law proposed by the prospective coalition government, a conservative alliance of the Christian Democrat Union (CDU)) and Christian Social Union (CSU)) together with the Social Democrats (SPD). With 53 out of the 69 votes in the council, the proposal gained seven votes more than what would have been necessary to achieve the required two-thirds majority, while four of the 16 federal states – Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia and Rhineland- Palatinate – abstained from the vote. After the German parliament (Bundestag) adopted the package on 18 March, the vote in
the Bundesrat cleared the way for a key instrument of the likely next government coalition under conservative leader Friedrich Merz as chancellor. The package contains a special fund worth €500 bn earmarked for additional investments in infrastructure and climate neutrality, as well as changes to the constitutional limit on government borrowing (the ‘debt brake’) to allow greater leeway for the federal government’s defence budget. Merz’s proposal was expected to clear this second hurdle after the CDU leader agreed on a deal with the Green party at the end of the previous week, which stipulated that at least one-fifth of the 500-billion-euro special fund is reserved for climate action and put the national target of achieving climate neutrality by 2045 into the constitution. Winfried Kretschmann, influential Green Party state premier from Baden-Wurttemberg, said that while his state agreed to the necessary step, he
would do so with “a significant feeling of disturbance.”
However, the vote also hinged on support from other parties, including the Free Voters in Bavaria. The party’s leader, Bavarian economy minister Hubert Aiwanger, who had initially rejected the spending package, said he ultimately consented to the proposal as his party would likely would have been ejected from Bavaria’s coalition government otherwise. The special fund, the changes to the debt brake and the effective removal of a ceiling on defence spending mark a monumental shift in Germany’s fiscal policy, which in the past years had been pivoted on financial discipline. The package is expected to provide a major stimulus to the country’s ailing economy and also to the European economy as a whole if the funds are used prudently and not to replace spending otherwise coming from the core budget.
Trinasolar develops world’s first 800W+ module China Solar energy
Trinasolar, a globally prominent manufacturer of smart PV and energy storage solutions, has developed the world’s first industrial-standard solar PV module delivering over 800W of maximum power. The 3.1 sq m module, produced with 210mm x 105mm perovskite/ silicon tandem solar cells, has achieved peak power output of 808W, certified by the global testing, inspection and certifying body TÜV SÜD. “This is a [huge] breakthrough for perovskite/ silicon tandem solar modules and a key milestone in PV technology,” said Gao Jifan, chairman and CEO of Trinasolar. “The successful
8 | April 2025 |
www.modernpowersystems.com
development of the world’s first 808W with a 210mm standard size is a significant step toward the industrialisation of tandem modules.” As conventional silicon-based solar cell efficiency nears its theoretical limit, high- efficiency tandem cells have attracted increasing attention. Perovskite tandem technology has the potential to exceed these limitations, with theoretical efficiencies reaching 43%. As a transformative solution for next-generation solar energy, the technology could become the new industry standard, signalling a historic shift from silicon-based solar cells to tandem solar cells, and ushering
in a new era of sustainable development. Over 10 years Trinasolar has been a pioneer in perovskite tandem cell technology. In collaboration with universities including Nanjing University, Jiangsu province and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the company has led numerous national research projects and has filed 331 patents related to tandem technology, as well as significantly improved conversion efficiency through advances in perovskite bulk doping, interface engineering and composite layer design. This work has helped lay the foundation for the industrialisation of perovskite/silicon tandem modules.
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