With the unexpected arrival of coronavirus there has been significant a shift in human behaviour. We are now two weeks removed from the Irish Government’s instruction to close schools and message advising businesses to allow employees work from home where possible, we wonder what has the impact been on energy demand across the Island of Ireland. This week’s chart looks at the change in demand on weekdays due to this change in behaviour.
Our SEM Chart of the Week looks at the total daily weekday energy demand across the first three weeks of March as more people work from home. The most notable shift in demand came last week where weekday demand averaged 108.7GWh down 6.0% on the start of the month (116.1GWh). This has seen peak power levels fall by 400MW on average when compared against the start of the month (~6.0GW). On 17 March (St. Patricks day) demand peaked at 5.4GW, the lowest weekday peak demand since October 2019. Notwithstanding St. Patricks day, demand is lower across the working days of the week by 6%.
