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

Aviad Navon, Ram Machlev, David Carmon, Abiodun Emmanuel Onile, Juri Belikov and Yoash Levron
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Aviad Navon: Technion—Israel Institute of Technology, The Andrew and Erna Viterbi Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Haifa 3200003, Israel
Ram Machlev: Technion—Israel Institute of Technology, The Andrew and Erna Viterbi Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Haifa 3200003, Israel
David Carmon: Israel Electric Corporation, Adi 1794000, Israel
Abiodun Emmanuel Onile: The Department of Software Science, Tallinn University of Technology, Akadeemia Tee 15a, 12618 Tallinn, Estonia
Juri Belikov: The Department of Software Science, Tallinn University of Technology, Akadeemia Tee 15a, 12618 Tallinn, Estonia
Yoash Levron: Technion—Israel Institute of Technology, The Andrew and Erna Viterbi Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Haifa 3200003, Israel

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 4, 1-14

Abstract: 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.

Keywords: COVID-19; coronavirus; SARS-CoV-2; pandemic; health crisis; power system stability; renewable energy; energy market; energy policy; load forecasting (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (20)

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