Energy infrastructure faces growing gap with rising demand

A growing gap exists between the rapid rise in electricity demand and the slow pace of infrastructure development. While industrial expansions, data centers, and the electrification of transport can scale relatively quickly, building essential grid components like transmission lines and substations often requires five to fifteen years of planning and execution.

The International Energy Agency has warned that this temporal mismatch creates significant economic risks. Even when generation and large-scale consumers are ready, the lack of distribution capacity can delay projects, increase costs, and reduce regional competitiveness.