Renewable Energy Market Research Report - Global Forecast to 2030

Impact of Covid-19 Outbreak on Renewable Energy Market-

The energy sector has been acutely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to a decreased demand for electricity from the industrial and commercial end-use sectors. As most countries are under lockdown, economic activities have come to a standstill, and only essential industries are operating, leading to a substantial decline in the demand for electricity. Moreover, the renewable energy sector was also negatively affected in the first quarter of the FY’2020 as most of the countries across the world are heavily dependent on other countries for imports. Within the global power sector, almost 40% of the supply chain is dependent on supply from China and other Southeast Asian countries. For instance, the US and several countries in Europe are heavily dependent on low-cost solar cells and modules from China. Additionally, the US relies on various countries for the import of wind equipment. Moreover, China holds more than a 30% share of the supply of raw wind material and components to the US, while Europe holds a ~25% share. Hence, the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a halt in production activities of components, which is ultimately resulting in hindrance in global supply.

According to reports by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), in India, only ~222 MW of solar and ~25 MW of wind capacity was achieved in March as all activities have come to a halt owing to the pandemic. Thus, the installation of power generation equipment is expected to remain slow in the coming two months. Moreover, India, along with many other countries in Asia, are dependent on other countries for solar modules and wind components, especially China, which has put many upcoming renewable projects on hold and can slow down the overall installation process. Additionally, various wind equipment manufacturers such as Siemens, Goldwind, Suzlon, WEG SA, LM Windpower, and GE also have faced production shutdown, resulting in huge backlogs and delays in completing orders.

Fig 1:  GLOBAL RENEWABLE ENERGY GENERATION, GW (2015 TO 2019)

Source: IRENA
 

Source: Primary Experts, Secondary Sources and MRFR Analysis