A Cross-Domain Approach to Analyzing the Short-Run Impact of COVID-19 on the US Electricity Sector

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. As the US begins to gradually resume economic activity, it is imperative for policymakers and power system operators to take a scientific approach to understanding and predicting the impact on the electricity sector. Here, we release a first-of-its-kind cross-domain open-access data hub, integrating data from across all existing US wholesale electricity markets with COVID-19 case, weather, mobile device location, and satellite imaging data. Leveraging cross-domain insights from public health and mobility data, we rigorously uncover a significant reduction in electricity consumption that is strongly correlated with the number of COVID-19 cases, degree of social distancing, and level of commercial activity. [Display omitted] •Open-access data hub to track the impact of COVID-19 on the electricity sector•Cross-domain analysis of electricity sector using mobility and public health data•Mobility in the retail sector is the key factor influencing electricity consumption•Visualization of the impact of COVID-19 through satellite night-time-light data As the lifeblood of civil society, the electricity sector is undergoing highly volatile changes due to COVID-19. The dramatic reduction in electricity consumption due to shutdown policies during COVID-19 can in fact be seen from space, as visualized by night-light satellite imagery in our study. In this work, we release a first-of-its-kind open-access data hub and cross-domain analysis integrating traditional electricity data with cross-domain sources such as public health and mobility data to quantify the impact of these social distancing and public health policies on electricity consumption. In the short term, this cross-domain analysis can immediately aid power system operators and policy makers in their response to the ongoing crisis. From a broader perspective, this research departs from the traditional landscape of forecasting, reliability, and risk assessment in the electricity sector by introducing new domains of data that will inform planning, policy, and operation in the future. We present a cross-domain, data-driven approach to tracking and quantifying the impact of COVID-19 on the US electricity sector, including (1) a first-of-its-kind open-access data hub integrating electricity data with public health, mobility, weather, and satellite data and (2) a