Coronavirus Outbreak Impact on Global Energy Industry
24 March 2020
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.