Covid-19 and energy sector: Unique opportunity for switching to clean energy.

ABSTRACT

The novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) was extended to 213 countries globally by August 2021. The world has been threatened by rising infection rates and emerged as the catastrophic event in the field of health triggering the international emergency panic button. COVID-19's sudden arrival wreaked havoc on the world economic picture, particularly in the energy sector. A steep drop in oil prices, as well as an imbalance in energy, was the result of strict travel restrictions, fewer transportation options, and people's fears of a flu pandemic. However, confined mobility and a drop in energy demand coated the environment with a silver line and drowned the nation's economic opportunities. Industrial transport, and not to mention every conventional energy-related thing, is completely devastated, but renewables were immunized. Wind, solar, hydrothermal, hydrogen, biomass-based energy systems were on high gear yielding maximum results in counterbalancing the demand-supply chain. Moreover, the pandemic created an opportunity to showcase the importance of renewable energy and tackle the difficult emergency like now. In addition to this, the mindset of the investors was slowly fading away from conventional fuels and shifting towards renewable energy. However, it is too early to state the booming renewables at the moment, and no idea about its long-time survival. Thus, the present review gives a clear picture of the current status of fossils and renewables, the impact of a pandemic, energy investments, government policy standings, threats, and opportunities, and finally, the key takeaways avoiding energy scarcity in once a lifetime disaster situation.