Читать книгу Renewable Energy for Sustainable Growth Assessment - Группа авторов - Страница 56

The year 2020 was an unprecedented period due to the COVID-19 pandemic that resulted in multiple challenges. The pandemic hit the world when sustainability had started to gain significance in the energy sector [27]. India is expected to be the largest contributor to the renewable uplifting in 2021, but like other sectors the COVID-19 pandemic has also affected the RE sector. During the pandemic several collateral damages took place to this booming RE sector. Sudden lockdown and closures of industries and railway transport led to a gap of about 40% in the energy demand within the nation. The sudden drop in the power demand was linked with the restrictions on generation, leaving renewables, with their often-fluctuating nature, at a disadvantage [28].

The supply of PV modules was affected as China, where the disease broke out, was the major supplier of these modules. The delay in delivery of products affects RE projects up to a range as high as 4 GW [29]. The wind energy which is a leading sector in India has also been greatly affected by the pandemic. Projects equivalent to 600 MW got delayed, which is expected to cross loss of 2.69 GW in coming years [28].

To improve the share of RE in market MNRE has made RE projects as “most run,” which makes it mandatory for the states to purchase power from these RE sources [30]. MNRE has also processed to relax the deadlines for the RE projects, to ensure that these projects do not get affected and also ordered immediate payment to all the dues of the renewable projects by the states [30].

At the same time the damage to India’s renewable power goals for 2022 cannot be ignored either. However, in the recent study done by Bodenheimer and Leidenberger it is claimed that this pandemic could provide a bright opportunity for the renewable and sustainable energy sector, but that can only be achieved through proper strategic planning and designed communications on behalf of the policymakers [31].