Copper has always been the go to metal for lighting and power, but an unprecedented “Electric Age” is pushing demand to record levels.
The global push toward electrification is creating massive challenges as both advanced and developing economies adapt to the way homes, business and industry use power now and in the future.
Electricity may have kick started modern life over a century ago, but its now seen as critical. The new electrification push encompasses nearly every aspect of life—electric vehicles, renewable energy, AI data centres, industrial automation, smart and energy efficient homes and offices, and countless other applications.
Increasingly new electricity sources are coming from copper heavy renewable energy, a trend that’s here to stay. Recently the head of the United Nations, António Guterres, said the world is at the “point of no return” on clean energy, adding “surging clean energy investment and plunging solar and wind costs now outcompete fossil fuels.”
“The energy transition is unstoppable,” Mr Guterres stated, noting that $2T flowed into clean energy last year, $800B more than fossil fuels and up almost 70% in a decade.
But the world has a long way to go, and even Mr Guterres said the electric transition is “not yet fast enough or fair enough”. Meaning governments everywhere have to invest far more into infrastructure like grids, power lines, substations, energy storage, and domestic and commercial capacities.
It’s a worldwide problem and Australia is no exception. Experts here are warning that delays in upgrading the grid and powerlines are “stalling the nation’s renewable energy growth,” with projects like the EnergyConnect link between South Australia, Victoria, and NSW delayed till 2027 and costs almost double the original $2.4B.
Copper demand has long roughly tracked global GDP growth at around 2-3% per year, but new projections see it exceeding 4-5% annually. It may be a brave new all-electric world, but we will still need age old copper to help us get there it seems.