Power consumption during Corona As in Switzerland, energy consumption has been saved has changed in the past few months. He is as deep as it has been for years. We will show you why.Philipp Felber-Eisele, Patrick Meier0 KommentareDie in the construction are in dividend end of the high-voltage power line in Chippis in the Canton of Valais.Photo: Olivier Maire (Keystone)
Suddenly mountain were cars at a standstill, with offices in the cities remained unused, and the tourists were: impacts of the Coronavirus have a direct influence on how our energy consumption since the 16th century. March and since the beginning of the Lockdown has developed.
in General, the power consumption decreased in Switzerland spoke. For the first time, the editors Tamedia has now examined the data in detail. These are the key findings:
Sunday deep, Tuesday high
Daily need Swiss gigawatt-hours of electricity. In the evaluated period, shows that on 10. Of March stood at 184 gigawatt-hours is the highest. For comparison: The Gösgen nuclear power plant produces in a year approximately 8,000 gigawatt-hours of electricity. 21. April – how the 10. March is a Tuesday – was that the consumption of 139 kilowatt hours and thus significantly lower. The same phenomenon shows on other days of the week. Furthermore, clearly the least amount of electricity we consume on Sunday.
The Bernese energy company BKW, it means that the power consumption decreased by a total of five to seven percent, although private households have consumed during the Lockdown, more power. “The largest decline was registered in the case of the SMEs, around 16 per cent,” says a spokesman.
In the case of Axpo, a major electricity supplier in Switzerland, showed that there was in the case of the large industrial customers, “little appreciable declines in electricity consumption”. Unlike the house hold. In the rural areas of the North-East of Switzerland there was even a slight increase in power consumption, “while it was in the urban areas is exactly the other way around – this could be due to the increased home office of many employees,” says a spokesman.
another effect of the home staying: At BKW, there is an increased power consumption in the evening. The company believes that this has to do with more cooked. Unlike in Germany, the Swiss seem to be, however, remains at about the same time awake. So, at least in the catchment area of the BKW. In Germany, this first Peak of the day shifted to the rear, the Germans were asleep so tend to be more.
The data show the total consumption of end customers, from private households or large industrial customers. Out of the own use of power plants and the energy required to operate pumped storage power plants is expected because each. In the cantonal Figures, the Latter is deducted, which results were interesting exclusive.
The tourists are missing, the consumption drops
Regional shows that in the tourism-dependent cantons of the electricity needs of more decreased than in the Switzerland-wide average. So for example in the Canton of Graubünden. There, the load peaks in certain tourism regions, around 30 per cent lower than normal, it means the energy manufacturer Repower. Also in the Valais, the power consumption is decreased compared to the period before the Lockdown strong. But also in other regions, the decline is clearly visible.
The Canton of Glarus as an exception?
The average daily consumption decreased in all cantons, except in the Canton of Glarus. There, he rose by as much as 40 percent. However, this has little to do with the actual consumption of the end customer, but with the fact that electricity consumption in the Canton of Glarus mainly on whether with a lot of flow of water in the pumped storage power station Linth-is pumped Limmern.
A representative of the construction and environment Department of the Canton of Glarus is said that in the past year, the consumption for pumped storage was a 4.2-fold higher than the rest of the power consumption. Accordingly, the Lockdown has only a small negative effect on electricity consumption in the Canton. In February, had been pumped less water. “This increase from February to March has increased the consumption of the Canton of solid and all Consumption declines in industry and trade more than compensated”, is the response from the Department.
the thing with The weather
Clear: The weather has an effect on the amount of electricity we consume. It’s warmer, we need less power in the spring. This also has to do with the private Photovoltaic systems to produce more. Accordingly, these households have to apply less power. Thus, the power consumption, but the designated amount of the supply companies is. In March and April, compared to previous years, more mild months.
But even compared with milder months in this period, the amount of electricity consumed is lower. As an example: In March 2015, the average temperature was 6.4 degrees, and in Switzerland 4687 gigawatts consumed hours of electricity. In March of this year the average temperature was 5.9 degrees. The consumption, however, was 4435 gigawatt-hours. Even in March 2017, when the average temperature was 8.9 degrees warmer, we needed more power than this year. This is even more evident in April.
France is still significant
In other European countries, the decline in electricity consumption as well as in Switzerland. In some countries, such as Italy and France, the decline is even more pronounced than in Switzerland. Here, too, the weather plays a role again. However, one sees clear, how the power consumption due to the respective Corona-restrictions in the country goes back.
Since the Opening it goes upward
But what about in Switzerland after April, so around mid-may, as many of the shops opened back? As yet, no Figures are available, to assessments of great power to help companies. A survey shows: Since the first easing steps, the consumption has increased again. However, it is still below that of before the Corona time.
The Code and the data for the analysis can be found on our Github page (https://github.com/tamedia-ddj/2020_05_Stromverbrauch)
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