Energetica India Magazine nº88 March-April 2020

“Projects which are to be commissioned by June will be particularly affected. Rating agency CRISIL has estimated that about 3-GW solar projects worth Rs 16,000 crore will bear the brunt of coronavirus. Since most of these projects are connected with the interstate transmission system, any inordinate delay in their commissioning may invite trans- mission/point of connection charges from the Power Grid Corporation of India under Long TermOpen Access rules. The prices of components like solar modules will go up in the short termwith cheaper supplies fromChina drying up”. 26 energetica INDIA- March-April_2020 The Coronavirus crisis is having afar-reaching impact across the global manufacturing space. Among the various sectors that will bear the brunt is India’s solar power industry. India can be looking at months of delays due to disruption in the supply chain. To gain more insights, Energetica India speaks to some of the industry’s C-level professionals: 1. Dr. Kushant Uppal, Founder & Managing Director, Intelizon Energy Pvt. Ltd 2. Manish Gupta, Director, Insolation Energy 3. Puneet Goyal, Co-Founder, SunAlpha Energy Pvt. Ltd. 4. Ms. Imaan Javan, Director of Operations, Suntuity REI 5. Gyanesh Chaudhary, Managing Director, Vikram Solar 6. Simarpreet Singh, Director, Hartek Group 7. Gagan Vermani, Founder and CEO, MYSUN The basic components of solar panels i.e. solar cells come from China. Also, the government has been promoting LFP chemistry from China rather than the NMC which is provided by brands like Samsung and LG. In essence the Indian solar industry is highly dependent on China and a prolonged shut- down will have a severe impact on government based projects. Yes, the coronavirus has definitely affected the renewable en - ergy market, in the last quarter of the financial year of 2019- 2020 when everybody wants to commission projects especially private to take advantage of the tax benefits of the association, already the demand is high and historically the price is already high in this quarter. The coronavirus has even further added to be the soft increase in the prices, and even though the panel shipment has been delayed by a few weeks. The impacts on China is the largest producer of solar raw material globally. It supplies 85% of the raw material to the solar industry. China virtually controls the entire value chain from silicon to ingot, wafer, cell and module. Any potential strain could have an ad- verse impact in supplies. Southeast Asian module manufac- turers to a large extent rely on Chinese suppliers for things like Solar cells, Glass, backsheets, frames, junction boxes,”. “If there is a long hold on those in China, their module assembly capacity may eventually be affected.” The coronavirus outbreak in China could raise solar module prices in the near term as manufacturers have already begun experiencing wafer, cell and solar glass shortages. Production rates are also being affected by an extended new year holiday introduced by the authorities as a measure to deal with the virus, and the requirement workers from infected areas quar- antine themselves for two weeks. SOLAR POWER The Impact of COVID-19 on Indian Solar Industry Energetica India E nergetica I ndia : How will the coronavirus situation impact India’s renewable energy industry? Dr. Kushant Uppal Manish Gupta Puneet Goyal