[Mingli Lecture Hall, Issue 8,2020] Associate Professor Zhong Haiwang, Tsinghua University: Tracking and Analyzing the Short-Run Impact of COVID-19 on the U.S.Electricity Sector

Time: January 13th (Wednesday) at 14:30 PM-16:00 PM

Tencent meeting number: 483 378 944

Reporter: Associate Professor Zhong Haiwang, Tsinghua University

Reporter profile:

Zhong Haiwang, Associate Professor, Doctoral Supervisor, IEEE Senior Member, Tsinghua University, was selected for the 3rd China Association for Science and Technology Young Talents Support Project. The research direction is smart grid optimization operation, power market, etc. Published/admitted more than 60 SCI papers, including 2 Nature Communications papers and 1 Joule journal paper under Cell. Presided over 2 National Natural Science Foundation projects of China, 1 Beijing Natural Science Foundation project; undertook National 863 Project, National Science and Technology Support Program Project, National Key R&D Program Project, National Natural Science Foundation Key Project, NSFC-Smart Grid Joint Fund Key Project ,1 each item. Won the Asia-Pacific Young Scientist Award jointly awarded by the German Humboldt Foundation, 2 provincial and ministerial first prizes, 1 China Electric Power Science and Technology First Prize, 1 China Patent Excellence Award, and awarded as Outstanding Youth of China Energy Research Association Energy Science and Technology Worker Award, won the Best of the Best Paper Award in the 2020 IEEE PES General Meeting. Served as the chairman of the IEEE PES demand response working group and the secretary of the CIGRE D2.53 Power Internet of Things Working Group of the International Large Power Grid Conference. Served as a member of the SCI international journals International Transactions on Electrical Energy Systems and Journal of Modern Power Systems and Clean Energy editorial board member, CSEE Journal of Power and Energy Systems youth editorial board member, "Power System Protection and Control" young expert academic committee member.

Summary of report:

The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has rapidly spread around the globe in 2020, with the US becoming the epicenter of COVID-19 cases since late March. Substantial changes in the operations of bulk power systems and electricity markets are observed, and it is imperative for policymakers and power system operators to take a scientific approach to understanding and predicting these potential impacts. With this purpose, this study releases a cross-domain open-access data hub, integrating data from all existing US wholesale electricity markets with COVID-19 case, weather, mobile device location, and satellite imaging data. We then develop a data-driven analysis to substantiate the pandemic’s impacts from the perspectives of power system security, electric power generation, electric power demand, and electricity prices. Our results suggest that both electric power demand and electricity prices have discernibly dropped during the COVID-19 pandemic. Geographically diverse impacts are observed and quantified, while the bulk power systems and markets in the northeast region are most severely affected. In addition, leveraging cross-domain insights from public health and mobility data, we rigorously show that the significant reduction in electric power demand is strongly correlated with the number of COVID-19 cases, degree of social distancing, and level of commercial activity.

(Organized by: Department of Technology, Economy and Strategic Management, Center for Scientific Research and Academic Exchange)