Investment in Electricity Surpasses Oil, Gas, Coal for First Time Ever

The electricity sector has become the largest recipient of energy investment, surpassing oil, gas and coal for the first time ever, International Energy Agency (IEA) Executive Director Fatih Birol said Tuesday.

ISTANBUL (Sputnik) — Despite a 38 percent drop in capital spending in oil and gas from 2014-2016, the latest IEA report demonstrated that this sector represents 40 percent of global energy investment. As a result, the low-carbon components, including electricity networks, grew their share of total supply-side investment by 12 points to 43 percent over the same period, the agency's research showed.

"For the first time in the last 100 years, investment in the electricity sector took over investment in oil, gas and coal," Birol said at the World Petroleum Congress in Istanbul, presenting the IEA's freshly released report World Energy Investment 2017.

China is the first destination for investments in the electricity sector, the IEA chief added.

"The United States is a solid number two, Europe is a solid number three… but China by far is the first destination in terms of the investments," Birol said, noting that India also made a significant progress in developing its electricity sector last year.