COVID-19 Pandemic Impact on the Electricity Demand of a Middle-Income Non-Industrial Country: Jordanian Case

Abstract

The outbreak of the infamous Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has widely affected every aspect and flow of the human daily lives. While this effect extended to the global electrical grid, it impacted every system distinctly owing to the divided global response to the pandemic, the diverse economic development of the countries as well as the different scale and responsiveness of each electrical grid. Jordan, a middle-income economy and one of the countries that were severely impacted by the disease, was known during the start of the pandemic for imposing one of the strictest curfews and nationwide lockdown around the world. These restrictions had significantly affected the electric load demand over the year 2020. With Jordan's high residential load share (exceeding 45%), increasing contribution of generation from renewable energy sources (more than 20% in 2020), alongside its unique pandemic response and its hot summers; the Jordanian electricity demand makes an interesting case to investigate. This paper provides a comparative analysis of the Jordanian load demand during the years 2019 and 2020 and includes insights on the effects of the imposed lockdown and the varying temperature in three different time frames; pre-lockdown, during lockdown and post lockdown.