pandemic

When Covid-19 hit his small solar engineering business, chief executive Methode Maniraguha said: ‘No furloughs or layoffs – we’ll pivot.’

A clean energy and e-mobility executive recruitment firm says 67 chief executives and founders remain relentlessly positive in the face of the public health crisis and expect the global recovery from the pandemic to be led by a green revolution.

Plus, there was plenty of hope in predictions made by Norwegian institute DNV GL but U.S. households are facing hefty energy bills just as data from Delhi showed the link between industrial shutdowns and cleaner skies.

The Korean company has committed to invest in solar innovation in Germany at a time when the EU and member states are desperately trying to kick-start the Covid-19 recovery.

Scientists measuring air pollutants and PV performance in Delhi have found the lockdown conditions imposed in the Indian capital since late March have brought about a significant reduction in air pollution which has led to an 8% increase in solar irradiation reaching rooftop arrays.

Accreditation institute DNV GL has made some astonishing carbon-related predictions as it prepares the next edition of its Energy Transition Outlook report. The Norwegian body says transport-related emissions have peaked and those of the iron and steel industries may well have too.

In times of crisis, a population usually divides itself into two opinion groups. On the one hand, there are those who believe the storm will pass and things will return to business as usual. And on the other, there are those who took the time to embrace the new reality, accepted it, and now swear that the old world has disappeared and won’t ever come back. In general, writes Becquerel Institute’s Gaëtan Masson, reality splits between the two and makes everyone wrong. And this is what might be about to happen in the solar PV sector.

Some European countries and emerging markets are now showing signs of slow recovery, as the Covid-19 pandemic brought overseas markets to a shuddering halt in late March. However, demand is expected to remain weak through the beginning of the third quarter, writes PV InfoLink’s Amy Fang, as it will take time for overseas markets to snap back. Meanwhile, the Chinese market is again busy with the June 30 installation rush, as the government has left tariff timelines unchanged up to the middle of May.

Industry body the VDMA said business fell 55% from the final three months of last year to the first quarter of this year for the worst retreat since 2012. The nature of the order book and sales figures can both be explained by the global progress of Covid-19, according to the organization.

Vaibhav Pratap Singh, senior analyst from South Asian thinktank the Council on Energy, Environment and Water, tells pv magazine about the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the Indian solar sector, green finance and other investment prospects.