India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has disclosed that clean energy projects have not been affected by the falling electricity demand as the entire nation has entered into a state of lockdown to check the spread of COVID-19. The disruption in the logistics and supply chain will be minimum and will not cause any significant impact in the renewable industry, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

Somik Das, Senior Power Analyst at GlobalData, comments:“Although countries like Australia expects to have a significant drop in the number of fresh monthly installation, India does not expect any such major impacts to come it’s way after the lockdown period comes to an end.”

The Ministry stated that all renewable energy projects are operating on a must run basis during the current public health crisis. To keep up the pace with near term targets, India continues to allocate projects even during these testing times. For instance, Vikram Solar, one of India’s leading module manufacturers and an EPC & rooftop solar solutions provider, recently bagged a 300 MW solar project from National Thermal Power Corporation Limited (NTPC) under the Central Public Sector Undertaking (CPSU)-II scheme.

Alternatively, Tata Power Solar Systems won a deal of constructing a 300 MW solar PV plant for state-owned utility major National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC). However, it has been predicted that there would be a 30% fall in Indian electricity demand during the period from mid-April into May, especially after the  lockdown period till 3^rd May 2020.

Das concludes: “In case of solar PV, India has the option of turning to domestic manufacturers for PV modules in a scenario where the supply from foreign manufacturers becomes a hurdle. This would boost the morale of the domestic manufacturers and minimize the damage caused to the sector. ”