State of Industrial Electrification 2026
Swapping fuel for electricity is the central decarbonisation move for the part of industry that does not need extreme heat — and that part is larger than most assume. Electricity's share of industrial energy is rising steadily, the technology to electrify low- and medium-temperature heat already exists, and falling renewable power costs are turning electrification from a green choice into an economic one. This report compiles the public figures on where industrial electrification stands in 2026.
Electricity's share of industrial energy is climbing
Source: IEA — Industry — Energy System (2024)
The trend is unmistakable. Electricity made up about 23% of global industrial energy use in 2022, up from roughly 19% in 2010, as electric drives and process heat displaced combustion. On the IEA's net-zero pathway that share needs to reach close to 30% by 2030 — a step change that implies electrification accelerating from a gradual drift into a deliberate programme. The gap between the current trajectory and the net-zero requirement is the policy and investment story of the decade for industrial energy.
Roughly half of industrial fuel could be electrified today
Source: McKinsey & Company — Net-zero electrical heat: A turning point in feasibility (2024)
The technical ceiling is higher than the current pace suggests. McKinsey estimates that almost 50% of all the fuel industry burns for energy could be replaced with electricity using technologies available now — heat pumps, electric boilers, resistance and induction heating — with the main exception being the very-high-temperature heat above about 1,000°C required for cement clinker and virgin steel. In other words, electrification is not waiting on invention for the bulk of its addressable market; it is waiting on relative prices and capital cycles. That reframes the question from whether to electrify to when each process becomes economic.
The addressable heat is mostly low-temperature
Source: IEA — Industrial heat demand by temperature range, 2018 (2018)
Why is so much of industry electrifiable? Because process heat dominates industrial energy — about two-thirds of it — and that heat is skewed toward low temperatures that electric equipment handles easily. Around 35% of industrial heat demand is needed below 100°C and a further 30% between 100°C and 200°C, a band that high-temperature heat pumps and electric boilers serve directly and often more efficiently than combustion. The implication is practical: electrification programmes should start with the low-temperature heat that is both the largest slice of demand and the cheapest to switch, leaving the hard, high-temperature processes for clean fuels or capture.
FAQ
How much of industry can actually be electrified?
McKinsey estimates that almost half of the fuel industry uses for energy could be replaced with electricity using technologies available today, such as heat pumps, electric boilers and induction heating. The main exception is very-high-temperature heat above roughly 1,000°C, as in cement and virgin-steel production, which still needs clean fuels or other routes.
Why start industrial electrification with low-temperature heat?
Because it is both the largest and the easiest slice. Process heat is about two-thirds of industrial energy, and around 65% of that heat is needed below 200°C — a range that high-temperature heat pumps and electric boilers serve directly and efficiently. Switching the low-temperature heat first captures the most demand for the least cost and technical risk.
Sources
- IEA — Industry — Energy System
- McKinsey & Company — Net-zero electrical heat: A turning point in feasibility
- IEA — Industrial heat demand by temperature range, 2018
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