COVID-19 and Renewable Energy: Need for a Comprehensive Review

The outbreak of Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in late 2019 and its eventual transformation into a global pandemic caused a shock wave across countries. The renewable energy (RE) sector, which has always been one of the leading areas for promoting environmental sustainability, has not been spared from the epidemic. The integration of the effects of the epidemic on the global economy and the fluctuation of oil prices due to global quarantines around the world increased the impact of this disease on the RE industry. Although the COVID-19 crisis has had a negative effect on efforts to develop RE, analysts believe that in the future, more of the world's energy needs will come from RE sources. The International Energy Agency (IEA) has claimed that RE consumption is likely to increase because people tend to have clean and sustainable energy sources such as wind, water, and solar energy more than before. In the present work, the effects of the COVID-19 outbreak on environmental changes, energy consumption, the need to use RE, investments made in the field of RE, and the well-being of the people of the world are examined and details and results will be discussed. The main aim of the present work is to review the studies of researchers on the impact of COVID-19 disease on the environment and RE.