Electric power in OECD countries is mostly produced by large central generating stations, then transmitted along high voltage lines to local distribution systems that carry it to final consumers. Distributed generation plants are different. They produce power on an electricity consumer’s own...

Highly volatile electricity prices are becoming a more frequent and unwanted characteristic of modern electricity wholesale markets. But low demand elasticity, mainly the result of a lack of incentives and consumers’ inability to control demand, means that consumer behaviour is not reflected...

This is the first ever Electricity Market Report produced by the International Energy Agency (IEA). Designed to complement other reports in the Market Report Series on energy efficiency, renewables, coal, natural gas and oil, this report focuses on developments in the world’s electricity...

When the IEA published its first Electricity Market Report in December 2020, large parts of the world were in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic and its resulting lockdowns. Half a year later, electricity demand around the world is rebounding or even exceeding pre-pandemic levels, especially in...

China is the world’s largest producer and consumer of coal, and an increasingly important participant on the international coal market. Paradoxically, while China is now a major coal exporter, it is also a coal importer. As China commits itself to further economic reform and increased...

In 2005, China added the equivalent of all the power plants in Norway and Sweden to its electricity generating capacity - and its remarkable demand growth shows no sign of abating. But how can the government best assure affordable and environmentally sustainable electricity supply in the future?...