Coronavirus Outbreak Impact on Global Energy Industry

24 March 2020
Energy Industry Import Export Data

The coronavirus crisis is gripping the global economy due to disruption of supply chain, restrictions in travel, lockdown in some countries and so on. The spread of virus outbreak has lead nations to implement containment measures, which has disrupted energy supply and demand. Based on Export Genius import export data, industry experts had cut its forecast for global solar demand in 2020 by 16%, amid worsening of coronavirus impacts around the world. Here is a look at latest coronavirus impacts on energy sector across the world.


Coronavirus Disrupts Global Supply Chain of Renewable Energy



Not only oil markets is feeling the coronavirus burnt, but energy industry is also being impacted severely from virus outbreak as solar and wind developers face an uncertain global supply chain. Renewable energy developers around the world believe that they will likely to face disruptions by the coronavirus pandemic.


However, they are not sure how long the market disruptions will last. As of today, they have no answers about the following questions related to virus impact on renewable energy:


·       How long is the industry going to be disrupted?

·       In the U.S., how is it going to affect employees?

·       Are we going to see installations slow down or to be put on hold because people are limited in travel?


Impact on Solar Energy



COVID-19 is most likely to slow down the global solar-energy revolution as it punctures the supply of major equipment for solar and wind farms in China.


While China is slowly coming on track after an extended shutdown, many factories are still not at full capacity amid a lack of staff and raw materials. For now, impact of virus on green product like solar giant is minimal due to potential stock availability.


China’s Gas Demand Steady Despite Coronavirus Outbreak


The impact of the coronavirus in China has reduced but gas demand will still be down till March 2020 as compared to the previous year.


Europe’s Clean Energy Transition Hit by Virus


Coronavirus has severely impacted the transition of clean energy in Europe. It is likely that implementation of clean energy legislation throughout the region would get slow down. This has the potential to threaten the efficacy of the carbon market, slow coal phase out plans and stall the expansion of renewable capacity.


Virus Impact LNG Imports in Spain


Spain is also one of the severely affected countries by coronavirus in Europe. According to the European countries trade data, Spain is home to one third of Europe’s LNG import capacity, so lockdown has the potential to further hit the global LNG supply chain.


European countries like Spain, Italy, France and Austria are imposing lockdowns and heavy measures to limit the spread of coronavirus. These measures are likely to put pressure on industries and near curve contracts, particularly as warmer weather also reduced heating demand. Country-wide lockdowns and demand slowdowns would impact on energy markets every day.  

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