Impact on the European electricity market of the global pandemic – explore the Wärtsilä Energy Transition Lab

Ireland showing the way towards a high renewable energy future
06 August 2020

A reliable and secure system operation is a concern often associated to the grid with high share of variable renewables. However, the recent development demonstrates that the European power system is capable to cope with significantly higher percentages of renewables than expected. Ireland is an interesting country in Europe to examine, as it is an isolated system with limited interconnections and with one of the highest levels of variable renewable generation in the region – making it a challenging grid to operate.

A wind of change from Spain
30 July 2020


In late-April we witnessed a week in Spain when the electricity demand was significantly lower (-12%) compared to the same period in 2019. At the same time, renewable generation was extraordinarily high (+45%) due to favourable wind and solar conditions. This increased the daily share of renewable generation up to 65% over the whole week in question, and to around 70% for three consecutive days of 29 April – 1 May in the country.

How the ongoing pandemic and WETL can help us to plan the future energy system
23 July 2020

The first two quarters of 2020 have taken everyone by surprise and the energy industry is no exception. During the strictest lockdown measures in April, the electricity demand in Europe was nearly 20% lower than in 2019. The demand is now slowly recovering but due to the economic slowdown, load continues (as of 22 July) to be down by some 5%. At the same time the wind is still blowing and the sun is shining just like before - causing the share of renewable electricity in the system to reach new records time after time.