The clean flexibility COP?

This report by Ember evaluates the feasibility of three clean flexibility proposals put forward by the COP29 Presidency in Azerbaijan: achieving 1,500 GW of global energy storage by 2030, expanding grid infrastructure by 25 million kilometres by 2030, and unlocking a global clean hydrogen market. The analysis concludes that while the storage goal is highly achievable due to surging battery manufacturing capacity and falling prices, the grid expansion goal requires a significant increase in build rates and faces substantial regulatory and supply chain hurdles. The report also notes that the deployment of hydrogen electrolysers remains highly uncertain despite large-scale announced projects.

• The COP29 Presidency has proposed two quantitative targets for clean flexibility: achieving a global energy storage capacity of 1,500 GW by 2030 and expanding grid infrastructure by 25 million kilometres by 2030, with a further 65 million kilometres by 2040.
• The 1,500 GW storage target is considered confidently achievable and potentially modest because battery manufacturing capacity by 2025 may exceed demand by 6,000 GWh, meaning the goal could be met eight times over if using 4-hour batteries. This is supported by a 39% drop in lithium LFP battery cell prices between September 2023 and September 2024.
• Meeting the 2030 grid goal of adding or refurbishing 25 million kilometres of grids would require an annual build rate of 2.7 million km, which is 50% higher than the average of 1.8 million km built per year in the decade prior to 2021.
• Grid expansion faces more significant challenges than battery deployment due to longer planning timescales, supply chain constraints for transformers and cabling, and the fact that grid companies are often monopolies that are resistant to change.
• The deployment of hydrogen electrolysers is described as extraordinarily uncertain. While 516 GW of projects are announced for 2030, only 20 GW have reached a financial investment decision, and only 5 GW are forecasted to be built during 2024.
• Beyond storage, grids, and hydrogen, the report identifies demand-side flexibility (using price signals to match demand to supply) and supply flexibility (ensuring all generation capacity is as flexible as possible) as critical components of the clean flexibility toolbox.

APA

Ember (2024). The clean flexibility COP? https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/the-clean-flexibility-cop

Chicago

Ember. The clean flexibility COP? 2024. https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/the-clean-flexibility-cop.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Ember |title=The clean flexibility COP? |date=30 October 2024 |url=https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/the-clean-flexibility-cop |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{ember2024clean, author = {{Ember}}, title = {{The clean flexibility COP?}}, institution = {Ember}, year = {2024}, month = oct, url = {https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/the-clean-flexibility-cop}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }