- Originally, it expected India will install 11.8 GW of solar plants in 2020
- The local solar power industry is suffering as it is heavily dependent on Chinese PV module imports
Due to the lockdown in India to curb the spread of Coronavirus, there could be a delay of over 3 GW of solar photovoltaic (PV) and wind installations planned for this year as per a report by Wood Mackenzie. Originally, it expected India to install 11.8 GW of solar plants in 2020. But now because of this crisis situation, it has reduced the forecast by 2.4 per cent to 8.9 GW.
Senior analyst Rishab Shrestha said that the current supply and labour disruptions will have an outsized negative impact on 2020 installations. He added that the first-quarter deployments are seen to fall by about 60 per cent on the year to 1.2 GW.
Chinese PV module imports
The local solar power industry is suffering as it is heavily dependent on Chinese PV module imports. It has also suffered as its top three states in terms of 2019 installations-Karnataka (2.0 GW), Tamil Nadu (1.6 GW) and Rajasthan (1.7 GW) are in the top ten worst-hit states in terms of coronavirus infection rates.
For wind power, Wood Mackenzie initially guided for 3.5 GW of 2020 installations. Now it expects 400 MW to be delayed into 2021. Principal analyst Robert Liew said the timing of the lockdown is unfortunate as Q1 is typically one of the busiest periods for wind project installations.
