It seemed that nothing could slow the global renewable-energy juggernaut. Nothing, that is, until COVID-19. From the solar factory floors of China’s Jiangsu province to wind farm country in West Texas, the clean-energy industries are struggling to gauge the potential damage that lies ahead — and it’s not a pretty picture. Just a few weeks ago, the biggest COVID-19 concern for renewable energy appeared to be the supply of equipment, reflecting the outbreak’s early impact in China. Would there be enough solar panels, wind turbines and batteries to meet demand and project deadlines, given the widespread factory shutdowns?

But after a wild few days of escalating infection numbers and increasingly frantic government responses in Europe and the U.S., the focus is quickly shifting to demand, as the reality dawns that a global economic slowdown may be inevitable. Late last week, Bloomberg New Energy Finance lowered its 2020 global solar demand forecast to a range of 108 to 143 gigawatts — a drop of 9 percent at the low end compared to the market research firm’s prior estimate. That could mean the first down year for global solar installations since the 1980s. Jenny Chase, BNEF’s head of solar, said the issue of equipment supply seems to be sorting itself out as China’s factories rumble back into production. “You do hear screams of panic from developers and people who are not getting their shipments exactly when they wanted them, but we think that’s probably quite a temporary effect,” Chase told GTM. “The factories — even the ones that shut down temporarily while workers self-isolated after they came back from their Chinese New Year travels — are coming back up. Companies are confirming they’re back in production.” […]