Assessment of Algeria's electricity power demands during COVID-19 pandemic and wildfires incidents

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has had enormous negative impacts on several activity sectors such as health, energy, and the economy. Aiming to limit its spread, extraordinary containment measures have been taken by the Algerian government by proclaiming the confinement on March 22, 2020, while maintaining the security of electricity supply to hospitals, critical infrastructures and the households. This manuscript presents a deep analysis of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the electricity power demands in northern and southwestern Algeria. The analysis covers the period from January 1, 2019, to December 31, 2021, and considers sudden and large changes (increase or decrease) in electricity power demand that may put power system reliability and stability at risk. One promising solution, which can avoid such situations, is to detect the power ramp rate; it is proposed as a power fluctuation indicator. In addition, the analysis also includes the impacts of wildfires that menace most of northern Algeria during the summer of 2021.