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The Immediate Impacts of COVID-19 on European Electricity Systems: A First Assessment and Lessons Learned

Author

Listed:
  • Ettore Bompard

    (Department of Energy, Politecnico di Torino, 10129 Torino, Italy)

  • Carmelo Mosca

    (Department of Energy, Politecnico di Torino, 10129 Torino, Italy)

  • Pietro Colella

    (Department of Energy, Politecnico di Torino, 10129 Torino, Italy)

  • Georgios Antonopoulos

    (European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), 1755 Petten, The Netherlands)

  • Gianluca Fulli

    (European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), 21027 Ispra, Italy)

  • Marcelo Masera

    (European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), 1755 Petten, The Netherlands)

  • Marta Poncela-Blanco

    (European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), 21027 Ispra, Italy)

  • Silvia Vitiello

    (European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), 21027 Ispra, Italy)

Abstract

The worldwide spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 forced most countries to intervene with policies and actions—including lockdowns, social-distancing and smart working measures—aimed at mitigating the health system and socio-economic disruption risks. The electricity sector was impacted as well, with performance largely reflecting the changes in the industrial and commercial sectors operations and in the social behavior patterns. The most immediate consequences concerned the power demand profiles, the generation mix composition and the electricity price trends. As a matter of fact, the electricity sectors experienced a foretaste of the future, with higher renewable energy penetration and concerns for security of supply. This paper presents a systemic approach toward assessing the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the power sector. This is aimed at supporting decision making—particularly for policy makers, regulators, and system operators—by quantifying shorter term effects and identifying longer term impacts of the pandemic waves on the power system. Various metrics are defined in different areas—system operation, security, and electricity markets—to quantify those impacts. The methodology is finally applied to the European power system to produce a comparative assessment of the effects of the lockdown in the European context.

Suggested Citation

  • Ettore Bompard & Carmelo Mosca & Pietro Colella & Georgios Antonopoulos & Gianluca Fulli & Marcelo Masera & Marta Poncela-Blanco & Silvia Vitiello, 2020. "The Immediate Impacts of COVID-19 on European Electricity Systems: A First Assessment and Lessons Learned," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(1), pages 1-22, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2020:i:1:p:96-:d:468779
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Stephen Snow & Richard Bean & Mashhuda Glencross & Neil Horrocks, 2020. "Drivers behind Residential Electricity Demand Fluctuations Due to COVID-19 Restrictions," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-20, November.
    2. Andrew Leach & Nic Rivers & Blake Shaffer, 2020. "Canadian Electricity Markets during the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Initial Assessment," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 46(S2), pages 145-159, August.
    3. Hamad M. Alhajeri & Abdulrahman Almutairi & Abdulrahman Alenezi & Faisal Alshammari, 2020. "Energy Demand in the State of Kuwait During the Covid-19 Pandemic: Technical, Economic, and Environmental Perspectives," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-16, August.
    4. Emilio Ghiani & Marco Galici & Mario Mureddu & Fabrizio Pilo, 2020. "Impact on Electricity Consumption and Market Pricing of Energy and Ancillary Services during Pandemic of COVID-19 in Italy," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(13), pages 1-19, July.
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    Cited by:

    1. Jan Niklas Buescher & Daria Gottwald & Florian Momm & Alexander Zureck, 2022. "Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic Crisis on the Efficiency of European Intraday Electricity Markets," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-21, May.
    2. Federico De Santi & Matteo Moncecchi & Giuseppe Prettico & Gianluca Fulli & Sergio Olivero & Marco Merlo, 2022. "To Join or Not to Join? The Energy Community Dilemma: An Italian Case Study," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(19), pages 1-20, September.
    3. Aviad Navon & Ram Machlev & David Carmon & Abiodun Emmanuel Onile & Juri Belikov & Yoash Levron, 2021. "Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Energy Systems and Electric Power Grids—A Review of the Challenges Ahead," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-14, February.
    4. Ankitha Nandipura Prasanna & Priscila Grecov & Angela Dieyu Weng & Christoph Bergmeir, 2022. "Causal Effect Estimation with Global Probabilistic Forecasting: A Case Study of the Impact of Covid-19 Lockdowns on Energy Demand," Papers 2209.08885, arXiv.org, revised Oct 2022.
    5. Sławomir Bielecki & Tadeusz Skoczkowski & Lidia Sobczak & Janusz Buchoski & Łukasz Maciąg & Piotr Dukat, 2021. "Impact of the Lockdown during the COVID-19 Pandemic on Electricity Use by Residential Users," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-32, February.

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