In the early months of the coronavirus outbreak, the energy storage industry saw production delays in China and South Korea, but as manufacturing restarts there, social distancing and work restrictions in the United States have prompted delays of their own. And industry officials and experts warn that if those disruptions persist over the next few months, storage project deployment and climate change efforts could take a hit in the coming years.
According to internal industry polling from the U.S. Energy Storage Association, 2 in 3 major energy storage companies have experienced delays in project deployment as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. These delays range from pauses of under one month to indefinite suspensions.
The survey of 173 ESA members and nonmembers was conducted March 11-20, as social distancing measures began to take full force in the United States.
Andy Klump, chief executive officer of the China-based and North American-owned Clean Energy Associates, said present supply chain dynamics are “quite a stark contrast to where utilization stood in late January or early February, when factories were shut down post-Chinese New Year.”
“Now we see factories back up and running and fully utilized within China, but then we’re also seeing certain end markets like Germany or the U.S., which are being impacted by the spread of the virus,” Klump said.
According to Kelly Speakes-Backman, CEO of ESA, the spread of the virus has caused evolving disruptions for the industry.
At first, project delays were due to disruptions in the manufacturing of batteries and other infrastructure in China and South Korea. But now, as China revives its production facilities, Speakes-Backman said concern has “shifted to the domestic impacts of social distancing and work restrictions on the permitting, installation and commissioning of facilities here in the U.S., which has had an immediate impact on projects currently under construction or planned to commence construction soon.”
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