India’s solar capacity addition tanks 39% in January-March period on Coronavirus woes

NEW DELHI: The pace of India’s solar power capacity addition in the first quarter of 2020 calendar year declined 39% to 1,080 mega watt (MW) from 1,761 MW added in the year-ago period, the lowest in a quarter since the October-December period of 2016 as the Coronavirus pandemic and the countrywide lockdown took their toll on the industry.
The capacity added in the first three months of this year also marks a 43% drop from 1,897 MW capacity added in the preceding three months of 2019, the latest report by Mercom Capital group’s green market tracker Mercom Research said.
“The lockdown disrupted the supply chain, lowered power demand, resulted in currency fluctuations, making component costs unpredictable and has exacerbated the liquidity issues,” group CEO Raj Prabhu said.