Short-term impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on the energy and economic performance of photovoltaics in the Spanish electricity sector

Abstract

In response to the COVID-19 outbreak, the Spanish government declared a State of Alarm that lasted from the 14 th of March 2020 to the 21 st of June 2020. The main measure put in place was a lockdown that suspended most of the activities and the movements in the entire country. The present work investigates the effects of this anti COVID-19 measure on the national electrical energy sector. The lockdown is found to have caused an average decrease in electricity demand of 11%, followed by a more severe drop in electricity prices of 0.09 €/MWh per each GWh of missed daily demand. These led to an average turnover reduction of 6.1 million € per day for the electricity sector. The losses are found to be unevenly distributed across the different power technologies of the energy mix. In particular, the performance of photovoltaics, the fastest growing technology in the country, is investigated in-depth. During the lockdown, for the first time, photovoltaics provided more than 9% of the national electricity, more than double than the previous annual maximum. However, despite the expectations related to the improved air quality, the average capacity factor of photovoltaic systems is found to be lower than in the previous years. The reasons behind this are investigated through the analysis of the behaviors of the environmental factors affecting this technology's performance.

The progress, impact analysis, challenges and new perceptions for electric power and energy sectors in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic

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Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on oil consumption in the United States: A new estimation approach

“…Leonardo et al. [ 26 ] investigated the impact of the COVID-19-related lockdown implemented in Spain from March to June 2020 on the share of the national power sector and photovoltaics in the energy mix. The study found that the blockade reduced electricity demand by 11% and increased PV market share by nearly 1%.…”

COVID-19 pandemic impact on micro and mini photovoltaic distributed generation in Brazil: selection and analysis of representative indicator

“…Still in the field of Electrical Engineering, studies have evaluated the change in the electrical matrix in Spain and Japan due to the pandemic (Micheli et al, 2021;Tingting Xu et al, 2021). The reduction in industrial production led to a reduction in the load on electrical systems, causing large plants to have their generation reduced.…”

“…The reduction in industrial production led to a reduction in the load on electrical systems, causing large plants to have their generation reduced. In this context, decentralized PV systems (residential, commercial, and industrial) that are not controlled in the dispatch of energy generated by the electrical system operators continued with their normal generation, which increased the percentage share of this generation source in the electricity matrix of these countries (Micheli et al, 2021;Tingting Xu et al, 2021).…”