IEA says the world needs 49.7 million miles of transmission lines by 2040

Scrolling through my newsfeed this morning, I came across some alarming, but not surprising, news. Tuesday, the International Energy Association (IEA) announced that their latest study shows the world needs to build or replace 49.7 million miles of transmission lines by 2040 to hit carbon targets. Here are some other key takeaways reported in this CNBC article: 

“This remarkable scale-up in the construction of transmission lines across the globe will require the annual investment in electric grids of more than $600 billion per year by 2030, which is double what current global investment levels are in transmission lines, the IEA says.”

“There are currently 1,500 gigawatts of renewable clean energy projects that are in what the IEA calls “advanced stages of development” that are waiting to get connected to the electric grid around the world. (A mid-size city needs a gigawatt of electricity.)”

While certainly depressing, this bit of news should come as no surprise to industry insiders and even casual observers of the field. Transmission development stagnation has hamstrung renewable adoption for a long time now, especially in America. Consider this fact highlighted in a 2021 Atlantic article: “Since 2009, China has built more than 18,000 miles of ultrahigh-voltage transmission lines. The U.S. has built zero.” 

If there’s a positive take-away from the IEA’s recent report, it’s that so many mainstream news publications have picked up on it. Notably, the New York Times has an article on it. In western democracies, media coverage of a problem often leads to legislators solving it, or at least trying.