Energetica India Magazine nº88 March-April 2020

The outbreak of this novel virus is hampering businesses around the world, especially the supply chain. Consequently, the solar industry is also not untouched as some shipments are getting stuck thereby delaying the projects in India. A large share of equipment (solar photovoltaic (PV) panels, raw materials, etc.) is imported from China. This is going to have a spiraling impact on the economics of the on-going Projects too. Gagan Vermani 28 energetica INDIA- March-April_2020 SOLAR POWER India’s renewable energy industry, like many others, is sus- pected to see challenges ahead due to the Coronavirus out- break. Since, India is depended on Chinese firms to supply about 80% of solar cells and modules used in the country, the outbreak will present the issue of depletion in raw material sup- ply to support Indian green energy future. Supply disruptions, delays in production, delays in quality checks and transport of components due to the outbreak are already visible in China, which are leading developers to de- clare force majeure. In this scenario, we should be apprecia- tive of the Government for supporting this measure to aid solar project developers. As domestic solar manufacturers, we feel that although, Indian module manufacturing capacity can satisfy its own demand, prolonged slowdown in China will cause raw material shortage and affect us as well. Therefore, we appeal to the Government to immediately turn focus on building in-house manufacturing scale and making financial solutions available. Gyanesh Chaudhary The coronavirus onslaught will lead to a delay in execution of projects, stretching the completion schedules. 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 corona - virus. Since most of these projects are connected with the interstate transmission system, any inordinate delay in their commissioning may invite transmission/point of connection charges from the Power Grid Corporation of India under Long Term Open Access rules. The prices of components like solar modules will go up in the short term with cheaper supplies from China drying up. This hike will be reflected in an increase in project costs as well with modules making up for roughly 60 per cent of the cost of a solar project. India sources about 80 per cent of its solar modules from China, which is worst affect- ed by this health crisis. But things will be back on track if the situation returns to normal by the middle of this year. Thankful- ly, developers have been exempted from penalty for any delay in commissioning of projects due to the present circumstances with the Union Finance Ministry agreeing to invoke the force majeure clause to allow more time to developers to complete their projects without inviting any fine. The force majeure clause exempts both the parties from fulfilling their contractual obliga - tions in extraordinary circumstances beyond human control, like wars, riots, crimes or natural calamities. Simarpreet Singh nate the Indian solar components market due to competitive pricing wherein they supply 80% of solar cells and modules. The coronavirus outbreak has highlighted the fact that several countries including India are heavily dependent on China for solar component manufacturing and do not have a diversified manufacturing base that can cater to the demand in the light of any kind of crisis. Considering all these factors, the Indian solar industry experts believe that India could benefit from the coro - navirus crisis by investing in solar component manufacturing.