Association Webinars: Impacts of COVID19 on the Global Power Sector



  

 

Efforts to mitigate the health impacts of the coronavirus (COVID19) pandemic has already had a large impact on the power sector around the globe. According to data from the International Energy Agency , lockdown measures have reduced electricity demand, on average, by 20% per month in countries under full lockdown as decreases in commercial and industrial demand outstripped increases in residential demand. Daily electricity demand fell by at least 15% in China, France, India, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Furthermore, the share of renewables in the electricity mix has risen, while demand for coal, natural gas, and nuclear power has fallen.

This webinar will explore the impacts of COVID19 on electricity use in the power sector, globally and discuss the short term implications of both decreases in demand and shifts in demand profiles. What will utilities need to do to ensure continued reliability in the power system? Will these impacts accelerate or hinder progress toward decarbonizing the power sector? Is this an opportunity or a risk for investment in critical power sector infrastructure?

Moderator:

Dr. Melissa Lott is a Senior Research Scholar and Lead of the Power Sector Research Initiative at the Center on Global Energy Policy. She has worked as an engineer and advisor for more than 15 years in the United States, Europe, and Asia. While her work has spanned the entire energy system, Dr. Lott is internationally recognized for her work in the electricity and transportation sectors. For her research and contributions to global energy sector dialogues, Dr. Lott has been featured as a Solar 100 Thought Leader, an IEEE Women in Power, and a Forbes 30 under 30 in Energy.

Speakers:

Ms. Anna Shpitsberg - Director, Global Power at IHS Markit
Ms. Shpitsberg specializes in power market development and conducts research and consulting on emerging trends, evolution of regulation, and industry strategy as it relates to the power sector, globally. Additionally, she is expanding geographic coverage of IHS Markit's power portfolio by managing the build out of power system analysis in Africa and the Middle East. Prior to joining IHS Markit, Ms. Shpitsberg established the U.S. Department of State's Power Sector Program (PSP) through which she partnered with and advised utilities, regulators, system operators, and energy ministries on power market reform, energy resource optimization and procurement, regional power market development, and renewable energy integration and financing. In this role, she designed, managed, and advised on projects across Africa, Asia, and Latin America, including Argentina, Cambodia, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam. She also held positions at the U.S. Department of Energy, the Rocky Mountain Institute, and Morgan Stanley. Ms. Shpitsberg holds a BS from Binghamton University in Finance and an MEM from Duke University with a focus on energy systems and the energy-water nexus.

Mr. Christian Zinglersen - Director, EU Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER)
Mr. Christian Zinglersen took up post as Director of the EU Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) by the Administrative Board of the ACER on 1 January 2020. Prior to joining ACER, he served as the first Head of the global Clean Energy Ministerial Secretariat hosted at the International Energy Agency in Paris (IEA) and as Deputy Permanent Secretary at the Danish Ministry of Energy, Utilities, and Climate, where he was a member of the Ministry's Executive Board responsible inter alia for the energy policy portfolio. Mr. Zinglerson also served as the Danish government's representative and Vice-Chair of the IEA's Governing Board and was the Danish participant in the Director-General meetings on energy policy within the European Union. Prior to that, he served as the Danish government's head of the global climate negotiations, culminating in Denmark's Presidency of the Council of the EU in 2012. Mr. Zinglersen started his career in the Danish Foreign Service where he focused on EU policy and law. He holds a Master's Degree in Law from the University of Copenhagen and is a graduate of IESE Business School's Advanced Management Program and Harvard Kennedy School's Senior Managers in Government program.

Kevin Tu is a senior advisor at Agora Energiewende, an adjunct professor at the School of Environment of Beijing Normal University, and a Non-Resident Fellow at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University. Prior to September 2018, Tu had served various positions including China program manager at Paris-based International Energy Agency, director of China Energy & Climate Program at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington DC., partner at a Vancouver-based premier energy consulting firm, director of marine operations at China's largest LPG importer and distributor, and construction project manager at Sinopec, a Chinese national oil company. Tu has more than two decades of solid experience in the energy and environmental fields in Asia Pacific, North America and Europe, his research interests cover the full spectrum of energy issues including fossil fuel value chains, energy transitions, energy sector reforms as well as climate change, with a focus on U.S.-China relations and EU-China relations, and their implications for China's energy & climate policies. Tu obtained a master of resource & environmental management from Simon Fraser University in Canada, and a bachelor of chemical & mechanical engineering from Zhejiang University in China.

 

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