November 14, 2008 IEA Forecasts Lower Nuclear Market ShareCoal...

November 14, 2008

IEA Forecasts Lower Nuclear Market Share
Coal will remain the world’s primary source of power until 2030 and nuclear will lose market share, according to the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) World Energy Outlook released this week.

Forecasts for slower economic growth have led the IEA to downgrade its 2030 world electricity demand forecast to 23,141 TWh, but the share of coal-generated power would increase to 44 percent by 2015 and remain at that level until 2030, compared to 41 percent in 2006.

Despite a global nuclear renaissance spurred by CO2 emissions reduction goals and climate change, the IEA expects nuclear’s share of world power generation to drop to 10 percent by 2030 from 15 percent in 2006. “Over the past few years, a large number of countries have expressed renewed interest in building nuclear power plants,” it said. “Few governments, however, have taken concrete steps to build new reactors.” [top]