Covid-19

Developers are also expected to drag their heels over project completion during the first half of the year as the safeguarding duty applied to imported Chinese and Malaysian solar products is due to expire at the end of July.

The list of major solar industry events put on hold due to the Covid-19 virus is lengthening. Today, Solar Solutions Amsterdam became the latest event planned for this month and next which the organizers must reschedule for later in the year.

As the contagion continues to spread, its impact is beginning to be felt on the solar industry outside China with the cancellation or postponement of major trade shows and conferences that were set to take place over the next few weeks.

The annual trade show was not particularly well-attended this year, but market sentiment is still positive in Japan – nobody believes that installations will drop due to the coronavirus outbreak. And the country’s upstream industry – modules, batteries, and hydrogen tech – clearly remains compelling, given the number of brave souls who actually did make the trip out to Tokyo Big Sight this year.

Three more PV manufacturers are jostling to announce plans to invest in an expansion of production capacities as the industry appears to make light of coronavirus fears.

Lobby group the National Solar Energy Federation of India says around 4 GW of solar plant capacity is likely to be affected by component shortages after the outbreak of the virus in China.

As the outbreak takes its toll on solar panel and battery manufacturing in China, Australia is bracing for disruptions in the supply chain.

The board of the lithium miner and refiner has revealed how the outbreak has hit its Chinese production after noting ‘unusual’ share price gains this week.

WoodMac analysts say the amount of new battery manufacturing capacity added in the nation this year could fall by as much as 10% because of the outbreak. With Tesla’s Shanghai gigafactory affected by the extended new-year-holiday shutdown, the analyst warned of potential supply shortages for Australia and the U.S. and U.K.

Storage system providers in Europe have told pv magazine output has thus far been unaffected by the virus outbreak in China. Manufacturers are aware, however, the situation may change rapidly if self-isolation measures taken by the authorities continue.