Source page: McKinsey & Company
Commentary
Grid unlock
Electric power and natural gas | Decarbonization
March 5, 2024 – As economies shift toward decarbonization, demand for renewable energy sources (RES) is expected to boom. According to senior partners Humayun Tai and Alexander Weiss and coauthors, installed capacity of intermittent generation, which includes wind and solar, could grow ninefold from 2020 to 2050. However, integrating RES to power grids could come with challenges, namely network inadequacy (a shortage of physical capacity to accommodate supply and demand in locations with the best resources) and network instability (due to a lack of real-time management of voltage fluctuations).
To read the article, see “How grid operators can integrate the coming wave of renewable energy,” February 8, 2024.
customizer here
Visual form
Two-panel chart pairing a stacked area chart with a line chart.
Layout / body structure
The chart is arranged as two charts side by side, with installed power capacity on the left and power demand on the right, read from left to right.
What is being compared
It compares the growth of dispatchable and intermittent generation capacity from 2020 to 2050 and sets that beside the rise in overall power demand over the same period.
Measurement system
The left panel is in terawatts, the right panel is in petawatt hours, and the callouts summarize a ninefold increase in intermittent generation capacity and a twofold increase in electricity demand by 2050.
Visible structure inside the graphic
The left chart uses layered filled areas to separate dispatchable generation from intermittent generation, while the right chart uses a single rising line to show demand.
Main takeaway from the visual
Intermittent generation rises much faster than demand, which is why the grid itself becomes the pressure point in the transition rather than generation growth alone.
Key standout values or extremes
Installed capacity climbs from roughly 8 terawatts in 2020 to about 30 terawatts by 2050, intermittent generation expands about 9x, and power demand increases from a little above 20 petawatt hours to just above 50.
Controls / sequence, when applicable
This is a static chart image with no in-chart controls to operate.
Companion media, when applicable
There is no separate companion audio or video; the chart image is the full visual on this page.