Industry representatives call for a $59 million, five-year package of grants, loans and tax incentives from the government after Dhaka extended a coronavirus-driven industrial shutdown into the middle of the month.
The coronavirus epidemic continues to batter the global economy, including the solar industry, but falling demand during lockdowns has brought negative energy prices as well as helping drive record solar generation, amid less-polluted skies.
A rebranded Singyes Solar was able to stave off a debt default meltdown last year thanks to a $200 million cash injection from the state but the turnaround appears to have come at a hefty cost in longer-term borrowings and employees.
Solar project owners responded to an appeal to donate a portion of their solar incentive payments to the public health authorities as another multinational body emphasized the importance of coronavirus fiscal stimulus packages having environmentally-friendly conditions attached.
The U.S. solar industry experienced a wave of job losses last month and the public health crisis has driven foreign exchange losses which will jeopardize projects Down Under, but it is Angela Merkel’s government which is attracting the ire of German PV installers.
Political support for the idea of linking Covid-19 exit strategies to green policy appears to be mounting in EU institutions. Easter, appropriately enough, may have injected new life into the idea.
The nation’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has reiterated that clean energy projects have not been affected by falling electricity demand as a billion citizens have been ordered to stay at home.
“Unprecedented” appears to be a frequently used term to describe the Covid-19 crisis that the global economy, our societies and healthcare systems are now facing. And while outbreaks of severe and potentially life-threatening diseases have occurred at various stages in the modern age, our globally connected reality today means that the coronavirus could have impacts that are truly without precedent.
Even as global PV forecasts fall, tax equity dries up and unemployment rises, investor Jim Spano believes the right type of government stimulus could not only help the solar industry recover – but drive it to new heights.
Industry body SolarPower Europe hosted a webinar to consider how the global public health crisis will affect solar. While workers and materials are still available, industry experts are concerned about the state of the financial sector. Banks could become more conservative and raise the cost of capital for renewables projects.
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