-Health emergency comes as new solar installations are driving massive growth in renewable energy generation -Solar sector needs information about how solar businesses are being impacted by COVID-19 and by national and regional government responses to the pandemic -The Global Solar Council is launching a survey to gather critical information from the solar industry and its stakeholders on the impacts of the crisis to solar markets -Government stimulus packages need to ensure economic recovery is powered by clean and sustainable energy technologies including solar PV

April 8, 2020 - The Global Solar Council is today launching an industry-wide survey to understand the impact that COVID-19 is having on companies operating in the solar energy sector. The Global Solar Council is directly engaging solar companies in collaboration with its members (regional and national solar associations covering all major developed and developing markets) to complete this survey and contribute their experience and outlook.

The GSC survey seeks to discover how solar companies have been impacted by the current business conditions and gauge their short-term outlook, in terms of orders, prices and supply disruptions.

"The Global Solar Council, as the voice of the world's solar industry on the global stage, stands together with its members and all companies as we face the current extraordinary situation," says Gianni Chianetta, Chair of the Global Solar Council. "The GSC survey will provide a timely global picture of how businesses are being affected and how they are responding. The GSC will take the findings to governments so they understand the critical role solar can play in a clean, sustainable recovery for our economies."

The latest International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) report shows that renewables accounted for almost three quarters of new power generation capacity in 2019, largely due to investments in solar and wind plants. The figures show that solar photovoltaic capacity expanded globally by 98 gigawatts in 2019, far more than any other renewable technology. Asia, led by China, Japan, South Korea and Vietnam, accounted for more than half of the new installed solar capacity while other major increases were recorded in the United States, Australia, Spain, Ukraine and Germany. All of these countries have been impacted in different times and to different degrees by the COVID-19 emergency.

This highlights the broader importance of the GSC survey to chart how the global solar industry is being disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic and of identifying actions that can be taken to help PV companies continue operations and to avoid longer term damage to investments.



The results of the GSC survey will be published on Thursday, 23 April when the findings will be discussed in a webinar (14:00 CET) that will provide updates on the state of the solar industry from Asia, Europe and the Americas alongside perspectives from sector experts.

The Global Solar Council survey can be accessed at the following link:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/GSC-coronavirus-survey