Search

The recent coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has wreaked havoc on the global economy, causing major shifts in energy use and output patterns. For some countries, this has had a significant effect on energy demand and carbon emissions, at least in the short term. Since the United Arab Emirates is currently exerting many efforts towards sustainability, it is important to assess and understand the impacts of the pandemic and the lockdown measurements on the local energy sectors. Data for this analysis were gathered by the Sharjah Electricity Water & Gas Authority (SEWA) for Sharjah City which is the capital of the Emirate of Sharjah. The changes in electricity after the implementation of quarantine and lockdown-like measures were assessed, and the results indicate that the electric power demand in Sharjah City was reduced in the commercial, industrial, and agricultural sectors, whereas the residential and government sectors witnessed a higher power demand. The overall electricity consumption in the year 2020 was reduced by 1.04% in comparison with previous years including 2016 to 2019. The results of this study indicate that the changes in electricity consumption were minimal in Sharjah City as compared to other cities around the world. However, this paper highlights the importance of governmental response during and after a pandemic, and the possible impacts that lockdowns could potentially have in the energy industry worldwide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the wide spread of new variants of coronavirus that cause the infectious disease COVID-19, governments around the world typically respond by imposing restrictions on people's activities that range from partial to full lockdowns. This has severe implications on all economic activities, which is manifested by the changes in energy demand. In this study, the impact of COVID-19 on the electricity sector in Jordan is analysed through quantifying the strictness of the government response measures to contain the spread of the pandemic, as calculated by the stringency index, with the electricity demand by the different sectors. Results showed that the minimum peak load in 2020 decreased by 13% as compared to that of 2019. The most affected sectors were the domestic sector, whose share in consumption increased by 8%, and the commercial and hotel sector, whose share decreased by 19%. The concept of an energy-weighted stringency index was introduced to account for the impact of government response measures on the different sectors. The analysis was applied for all Jordan as well as for the three electricity distribution regions. Results also showed that despite measures taken to contain spread of the pandemic, the share of electricity generation by renewables increased from 15% in 2019 to 24% in 2020. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]