In this Insights, we review the impact of responses to the COVID-19 virus on electric demand in the month of March. Examining trends from the UK and several jurisdictions in the US, we observe declines in electric demand and changing demand patterns, reflecting sweeping shifts in personal and economic behavior stemming from the pandemic response. We expect the shifts in load shape will continue to evolve throughout the crisis and beyond, though the lasting effects of the current crisis on electric demand will not be known for some time. We close by raising several areas that we will be monitoring in the coming months and years that will affect stakeholders in the electric utility space.
The authors would like to thank Viktoriya Kuz, Katherine Pemberton, Will Morley, and Huilai Gu for their assistance in preparing this CRA Insights.
How energy investment is evolving to meet AI-driven data center demand
In a recent interview, CRA’s energy consultant Mayank Saraswat explored how the energy sector is evolving to meet the surging demands of AI-driven data centers.