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G7 nations will agree this weekend on a global target to increase electricity storage capacity sixfold from 2022 to 2030 as countries grapple with keeping the lights on while switching to intermittent wind and solar power.
Ahead of a two-day meeting starting on Sunday, climate ministers have agreed “in principle” on a global electricity storage capacity target of 1,500 gigawatts in 2030, up from 230 GW in 2022, according to a draft document seen by the Financial Times .
This includes the use of batteries, hydrogen, water or other solutions to store electricity.
There are heated discussions about several other areas, with coal being among the most controversial, along with energy efficiency and methane targets. Japan in particular has resisted an ambitious move away from coal.
The current text, which has not been agreed upon, says that countries should phase out coal power, whose emissions are not recorded, shortly after 2035. Under new rules the U.S. announced Thursday, coal-fired power plants that want to remain operational beyond 2039 will reduce or capture 90 percent of their carbon dioxide emissions by 2032.
The talks are the first time G7 energy and climate ministers have met since nearly 200 countries agreed to move away from fossil fuels at the UN’s COP28 climate talks in December. At the meeting in Dubai, they also agreed to double energy efficiency and triple renewable energy capacity by 2030.
Burning fossil fuels is by far the largest contributor to global warming, but the shift to renewable energy has raised big questions about energy supplies at a time when the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine.
An official involved in the G7 talks said the energy storage target was a “good” solution and showed that countries were taking the agreement reached in Dubai seriously by focusing on implementation. The aim of energy storage is to store excess energy when conditions are optimal for renewable energy, for example using batteries, and then discharge it when needed.
Hydroelectric power plants currently represent the largest storage facility for renewable energy, but only about 15 percent of energy is generated by hydropower. The International Energy Agency expects batteries to make up 90 percent of new storage.
The G7 will “promote the development and deployment of stationary battery storage to increase storage efficiency and reduce storage costs” as well as “promote a diversified, sustainable, secure and transparent battery storage supply chain,” the draft says.
The International Energy Agency said this week that the “rapid scale-up” of batteries was crucial to achieving energy targets set at COP28.
It found that growth in batteries outpaced almost all other clean energy technologies in 2023, increasing global electricity supply by 42 gigawatts thanks to falling costs, better technology and supportive industrial policies.
According to the IEA, battery costs have fallen by more than 90 percent over the past 15 years, one of the fastest declines ever seen in clean energy technologies.
In a draft not yet signed by ministers, the document also proposed supporting a push by the world’s richest countries to end subsidies for fossil fuel development abroad, the largest source of international public financing for the sector.
Ahead of discussions planned in June, the US and EU disagreed over the scope of a proposed ban on OECD countries providing loans and guarantees from export credit agencies for oil, gas and coal mining projects.