More than 2,500 gigawatts of projects are stalled worldwide, waiting to connect to the grid: renewable generation, storage and large new users of electricity such as data centres. Using the International Energy Agency's report Electricity 2026, this short explainer looks at why grids are becoming the bottleneck, and at what could free capacity.
The IEA forecasts electricity demand to grow by an average of 3.6 per cent a year from 2026 to 2030. It estimates that using existing grids better (flexible connection agreements, new grid technologies and upgrades) could free enough capacity to connect around 1,200 to 1,600 gigawatts of advanced-stage projects now in queues. That is capacity that could be freed, not a forecast that those projects will connect, and the IEA says annual grid investment still needs to rise by roughly 50 per cent by 2030.
Chapters
0:00 Projects waiting to connect
0:26 Demand is accelerating
0:49 The connection queue
1:31 How grids fell behind
1:46 Using today's grids better
3:01 Building new grids
3:19 Why it matters
3:48 Source and disclosures
Independent JUTEAY example. Not commissioned, approved or endorsed by the International Energy Agency.
Footage: illustrative examples of electricity users and infrastructure; not locations or organisations studied or endorsed by the IEA.
Source and licence
IEA (2026), Electricity 2026, IEA, Paris, https://www.iea.org/reports/electricity-2026, Licence: CC BY 4.0.
This is a work derived by JUTEAY from IEA material and JUTEAY is solely liable and responsible for this derived work. The derived work is not endorsed by the IEA or its Member countries in any manner.
All charts are original JUTEAY graphics based on figures and analysis in the report. Quoted passages are the IEA's own words, with page references.
Footage via Pexels
Illustrative examples of electricity users and infrastructure, not locations or organisations studied or endorsed by the IEA.
- Stunning Aerial Timelapse of City Lights at Night: K
- Sunset Silhouette of Power Lines Against Golden Sky: 정규송 Nui MALAMA
- Aerial View of Expansive Solar Farm Under Cloudy Sky: Henrique Carmo
- Aerial View of Large Electrical Substation: Toàn BDS
- Automated Industrial Production Line in Action: Usman AbdulrasheedGambo
- Automated Factory Conveyor in Action: Usman AbdulrasheedGambo
- Close-up Shot of a Car at a Charging Station: Kindel Media
- An Air Conditioner Installed On A Window: Athena Sandrini
- Database Storage of a Server: ALL IZ Well
- Men Working on Electrical Grids: Videas Cl
- Wind Turbines Spinning on a Clear Day: Satvinder Ghotra
- Scenic Wheat Field with Power Lines Under Cloudy Sky: Ebahir
- A city street at dusk with a bus and cars: Huu Huynh
- An Apartment Building at Night: mohammad hassan tabatabaei jafari
- A Man Repairing a Watch: Tima Miroshnichenko
- Nighttime Train Passing Through Station: Jatin Pelora
- Heart Rate Monitor in the Hospital: RDNE Stock project
- Transformers at the Electrical Substation: Andrey Kirievskiy
Music and sound
Illustrative sound design; not original location audio.
- “Clean Soul” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
- “WWS UPS8211uninterruptiblepowersupply.ogg” by Work With Sounds / Torsten Nilsson, CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), via Wikimedia Commons
- “WWS Automaticpackingstation.ogg” by Work With Sounds / Torsten Nilsson, CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), via Wikimedia Commons
- “Brokindsleden - The sounds of traffic.webm” by Sound recorder: Fredrik Johansson, Picture: Fredrik Johansson, Film: Fredrik Johansson, CC BY 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), via Wikimedia Commons
- “WWS TrainStoppingAtTheTrainStation.ogg” by Work With Sounds / Werstas, CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), via Wikimedia Commons
- Gentle breeze and birds singing.ogg by ezwa (public domain)
Narration
AI-generated voice (OpenAI gpt-4o-mini-tts, voice "Fable"), reading JUTEAY's script.
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