Carbon Monitor-Power: near-real-time monitoring of global power generation on hourly to daily scales

TL;DR

This paper introduces Carbon Monitor-Power, a near-real-time global power generation dataset with hourly to daily resolution, covering multiple countries and energy sources, useful for research and policy-making.

Contribution

It provides the first comprehensive, near-real-time, global power generation dataset with high temporal resolution and detailed source categorization since 2016.

Findings

Reveals COVID-19's varied impact on different countries' power systems.

Shows seasonal and weekly patterns in global power generation.

Identifies disruptions and shifts in power sources during major events.

Abstract

We constructed a frequently updated, near-real-time global power generation dataset: Carbon Monitor-Power since January, 2016 at national levels with near-global coverage and hourly-to-daily time resolution. The data presented here are collected from 37 countries across all continents for eight source groups, including three types of fossil sources (coal, gas, and oil), nuclear energy and four groups of renewable energy sources (solar energy, wind energy, hydro energy and other renewables including biomass, geothermal, etc.). The global near-real-time power dataset shows the dynamics of the global power system, including its hourly, daily, weekly and seasonal patterns as influenced by daily periodical activities, weekends, seasonal cycles, regular and irregular events (i.e., holidays) and extreme events (i.e., the COVID-19 pandemic). The Carbon Monitor-Power dataset reveals that the COVID-19 pandemic caused strong disruptions in some countries (i.e., China and India), leading to a temporary or long-lasting shift to low carbon intensity, while it had only little impact in some other countries (i.e., Australia). This dataset offers a large range of opportunities for power-related scientific research and policy-making.