Energy & Science
Biggest Power Demand Plunge Since Great Depression Is Reshaping Markets
Slowdown is squeezing coal, buoying renewables and foreshadowing “grid of the future”
A coal-fired power plant in Roggendorf, Germany.
Photographer: FEDERICO GAMBARINI/DPAThis article is for subscribers only.
The global plunge in electricity demand will drag on long after nations lift stay-at-home orders, leading to the biggest annual drop since the Great Depression and fundamentally reshaping power markets.
As economies struggle to recover, worldwide electricity consumption will decline 5% in 2020, the most in more than eight decades, according to the International Energy Agency. In the U.S. last week, government analysts projected the nation’s biggest drop on record. And in Europe, analysts say a full recovery could take years.