The unfolding effects of the Covid-19 crisis, and fears of a possible second wave, have split analysts trying to guess how the unsubsidized renewables market will emerge as slumping demand continued to distort power markets. pv magazine rounds up the week’s coronavirus developments.
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.
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.
Lobby group the National Solar Energy Federation of India has welcomed the move and asked the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy to extend any such measures to existing contracts to help developers meet working capital requirements.
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.
India’s annual solar installations are set to exceed 10 GW in 2020, following a year marked by political uncertainty, module price increases associated with safeguard duties, and a lower number of awarded tenders. The outlook for battery energy storage installations for solar projects is particularly bleak, however, as such combinations in India can cost three to five times more than standalone renewable projects.
The government of Goa, now reeling under severe electricity shortages, has decided to extend its solar power purchase agreement with NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam by three years, following a complete lack of interest in the Indian state’s recent solar tenders.
An AFP newswire report this week said Ministry of New & Renewable Energy secretary Anand Kumar had announced plans for 30 GW of generation capacity in the state of Gujarat and 25 GW in Rajasthan, all of it along a 20-25km strip of semi arid land on the border.
India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has suggested minimum 25-year power purchase agreements, while also opening up the option to include energy storage in solar-wind hybrid generation projects that are procured under its public tender regime.
The Indian state of Karnataka has snagged the top spot on the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy’s State Rooftop Solar Attractiveness Index.
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