Lockdown impact on power systems based on experience curves and complementary bottom-up assessments during COVID-19

The preliminary measure taken by several countries to minimize the spread of Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is executing lockdown in the country. Due to this action, unforeseen impacts have been observed on energy demand, power sector operation, grid stability, and reliability of respective nation/state. Therefore, this study intends to investigate the impact of lockdown on power system scenario focusing deep into any one of the countries. This paper considered India's power system as a case study and presented the statistical analysis of the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak. The study is presented during the lockdown period from 11th March 2020 to 26th May 2020 in India. Various regions of the countries have been analyzed to show rigorous analysis of the diverse nature of consumers like domestic, industrial, etc. The impact on various issues is demonstrated by comparing the statistics with the pre-lockdown conditions. The critical observations derived out of the analysis shall deliver significant inputs for prioritizing the actions to be taken to maintain power system network: complying to technical levels, enhancing the operation and maintenance practices, planning for smooth grid operation, energy mix, flexible operation of thermal power generation, integration of renewable energy into the grid, and finally improvement in the reliability of the power system.