COVID-19: Impact analysis and recommendations for power sector operation

Rajvikram Madurai Elavarasan; G M Shafiullah; Kannadasan Raju; Vijay Mudgal; M T Arif; Taskin Jamal; Senthilkumar Subramanian; V S Sriraja Balaguru; K S Reddy; Umashankar Subramaniam

doi:10.1016/j.apenergy.2020.115739

COVID-19: Impact analysis and recommendations for power sector operation

Appl Energy. 2020 Dec 1:279:115739. doi: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2020.115739. Epub 2020 Aug 31.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Electrical and Automotive Parts Manufacturing Unit, AA Industries, Chennai 600123, India.
² Discipline of Engineering and Energy, Murdoch University, Perth, WA 6150, Australia.
³ Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Sri Venkateswara College of Engineering, Chennai 602117, India.
⁴ Heat Transfer and Thermal Power Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai 600036, India.
⁵ School of Engineering, Deakin University, Waurn Ponds, Geelong, VIC 3216, Australia.
⁶ Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Ahsanullah University of Science and Technology, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
⁷ State Load Despatch Centre, Grid Operation, TANTRANSCO, Chennai 600002, India.
⁸ Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, College of Engineering, Anna University, Chennai 600025, India.
⁹ Non Conventional Energy Sources, TANGEDCO, Chennai 600002, India.
¹⁰ Department of Communications and Networks, Renewable Energy Laboratory, College of Engineering, Prince Sultan University, Riyadh 12435, Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

The demand of electricity has been reduced significantly due to the recent COVID-19 pandemic. Governments around the world were compelled to reduce the business activity in response to minimize the threat of coronavirus. This on-going situation due to COVID-19 has changed the lifestyle globally as people are mostly staying home and working from home if possible. Hence, there is a significant increase in residential load demand while there is a substantial decrease in commercial and industrial loads. This devastating situation creates new challenges in the technical and financial activities of the power sector and hence most of the utilities around the world initiated a disaster management plan to tackle this ongoing challenges/threats. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the global scenarios of power systems during COVID-19 along with the socio-economic and technical issues faced by the utilities. Then, this study further scrutinized the Indian power system as a case study and explored scenarios, issues and challenges currently being faced to manage the consumer load demand, including the actions taken by the utilities/power sector for the smooth operation of the power system. Finally, a set of recommendations are presented to support the government/policymakers/utilities around the world not only to overcome the current crisis but also to overcome future unforeseeable pandemic alike scenario.

Keywords: ACT, Actual; CEEW, Council of Energy Environment and Water; CERC, Central Electricity Regulatory Commission; COVID-19; DISCOMs, Distribution Companies; DSM, Deviation Settlement Mechanism; ER, Eastern Region; ERLDC, Eastern Regional Load Dispatch Centre; FVI, Frequency Variation Index; FY, Financial Year; Global power systems; IEGC, Indian Electricity Grid Code; IEX, Indian Energy Exchange; IISD, Institute for Sustainable Development; IR, Indian Rupee; Indian power system; Load demand; MCP, Market Clearing Price; MCV, Market Clearing Volume; NER, North Eastern Region; NERLDC, North Eastern Regional Load Dispatch Centre; NHPC, National Hydroelectric Power Corporation; NLDC, National Load Dispatch Centre; NR, Northern Region; NREL, National Renewable Energy Laboratory; NRLDC, Northern Regional Load Dispatch Centre; NTPC, National Thermal Power Corporation; PGCIL, Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd; POSOCO, Power System Operation Corporation; PXI, Power Energy Exchange; Power systems; RES, Renewable Energy sources; RLDC, Regional Load Dispatch Centre; Recommendations for sustainable power systems; SCH, Schedule; SLDC, State Load Dispatch Centre; SR, Southern Region; SRLDC, Southern Regional Load Dispatch Centre; STATCOM, Static Var Compensator; UFLS, Under Frequency based Load Shedding; USAID, United States Agency for International Development; VAR, Volt Ampere Reactive; VDI, Voltage Deviation Index; WR, Western Region; WRLDC, Western Regional Load Dispatch Centre.