The COVID-19 Boost for Clean Electricity: Accelerating Clean Energy Development Through Pandemic-Era Measures

The unprecedented pandemic raises a number of uncertainties and implications in achieving the goal of a clean electricity future. During the peak of COVID-19, more than 100 countries implemented full or partial lockdowns to contain the pandemic. The lockdowns had significant impacts on global renewable energy deployments. This article analyzes data collected from countries and regions around the world, from prepandemic to postpandemic times. We also analyze the challenges and opportunities for clean energy development brought by the pandemic. Visions and suggestions for postpandemic development are also presented. To provide the readers with a quick overview of the global clean energy development progress, we summarize the latest goals and achievements of different countries and regions in Table 1. More details are articulated in the following discussions.