Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Energy Systems and Electric Power Grids—A Review of the Challenges Ahead

The COVID-19 pandemic represents not just a global health crisis, but may signal the beginning of a new era of economic activity, the potential consequences of which we currently do not fully understand. In this context, the mid-to-long-range impacts of the pandemic on the energy sector have been st...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Energies (Basel) 2021-02, Vol.14 (4), p.1056
Main Authors: Navon, Aviad, Machlev, Ram, Carmon, David, Onile, Abiodun Emmanuel, Belikov, Juri, Levron, Yoash
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
coronavirus
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
Economic conditions
Economic forecasting
Electric power
Electric power generation
Electric power grids
Electric power systems
Electricity consumption
Energy sources
Frequency deviation
Global health
health crisis
pandemic
Pandemics
power system stability
Public health
Renewable energy sources
SARS-CoV-2
Trends
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Summary:The COVID-19 pandemic represents not just a global health crisis, but may signal the beginning of a new era of economic activity, the potential consequences of which we currently do not fully understand. In this context, the mid-to-long-range impacts of the pandemic on the energy sector have been studied extensively in the last few months. Despite these efforts, the pandemic still raises many open questions concerning the long-term operation and planning of power systems. For instance, how will the pandemic affect the integration of renewable energy sources? Should current power system expansion plans change in light of the COVID-19 pandemic? What new tools should be provided to support system operators during global health crises? It is the purpose of this paper to better understand the many aspects of these open questions by reviewing the relevant recent literature and by analyzing measured data. We point out the main challenges that the pandemic introduced by presenting patterns of electricity generation and demand, frequency deviations, and load forecasting. Moreover, we suggest directions for future research that may assist in coping with the mentioned challenges. We hope that this paper will trigger fruitful discussions and encourage further research on these important emerging topics.
ISSN:1996-1073
1996-1073
DOI:10.3390/en14041056