Impact of COVID-19 on Electricity Demand: Deriving Minimum States of System Health for Studies on Resilience

Abstract

To assess the resilience of energy systems, i.e., the ability to recover after an unexpected shock, the system’s minimum state of service is a key input. Quantitative descriptions of such states are inherently elusive. The measures adopted by governments to contain COVID-19 have provided empirical data, which may serve as a proxy for such states of minimum service. Here, we systematize the impact of the adopted COVID-19 measures on the electricity demand. We classify the measures into three phases of increasing stringency, ranging from working from home to soft and full lockdowns, for four major electricity consuming countries of Europe. We use readily accessible data from the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity as a basis. For each country and phase, we derive representative daily load profiles with hourly resolution obtained by k-medoids clustering. The analysis could unravel the influence of the different measures to the energy consumption and the differences among the four countries. It is observed that the daily peak load is considerably flattened and the total electricity consumption decreases by up to 30% under the circumstances brought about by the COVID-19 restrictions. These demand profiles are useful for the energy planning community, especially when designing future electricity systems with a focus on system resilience and a more digitalised society in terms of working from home.

What impact have COVID-19 induced changes in working practice had on greenhouse gas emissions? A rapid review

“…Other proposals made by the authors related to carbon-offsetting. Manjunath et al (2021) used electricity data to generate representative demand profiles for different phases of the introduction of lockdown measures at the start of the pandemic for four European countries (see Figure 6). This approach better captures the transition to working from home without the influence of full shut down of industry, as is seen for studies which use the lockdown itself, or the unlocking stage.…”

“…Manjunath et al (2021) commented that other researchers have reviewed the capacity of European nations to shift to working digitally, and pointed out that Germany and Italy are the least suited to this transitionin the case of Germany due to the high level of manufacturing industry, and in Italy due to the lack of access to ultra-fast fibre broadband.…”

“…Manjunath et al (2021) reported that European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSO-E) data shows total daily electricity demand dropped by between 15 and 30% during the pandemic.…”