As expected, the actions taken to mitigate COVID-19 have affected the demand for energy across the city of New York, with lockdown measures reducing public activity across the entire state. It will probably come as no surprise that the biggest difference between anticipated energy demand and actual energy demand occurred during daytime weekday hours.
These conventional working hours saw a reduction in energy demand due to the closure of schools and businesses in an attempt to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 throughout New York City.
The graphic below, courtesy of the U.S. Energy Information Administration shows weekday electricity demand across February, March, and April, highlighting the percentage difference between 2019 demand and 2020 demand.
Compared to the 2019 numbers, the biggest difference between electricity demand occurred weekdays between 7:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m., with a 22% decrease in electricity demand for this year. Later in the day, between 11:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m., the decreased demand was also a sizable 20%.
The following graphic, again courtesy of the U.S. Energy Information Administration, tracks the decreasing electricity demand across March and April, when some of the key lockdown measures such as the closure of schools and businesses came into effect, along with the stay-at-home order.
As wholesale power prices will trickle down to retail ratepayers and even DER resources, YSG is monitoring energy markets to provide you with the most up-to-date information and forward curves for NYISO Zone J VDER tariffs.
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Sources:
https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=43855&src=email
All infographics used in this blog post are courtesy of the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
