Solar Power Is the Latest Industry Hit by China’s Pandemic Curbs

(Bloomberg) -- The solar power industry is the latest to be hit by China’s strict Covid control measures, with equipment makers cutting production amid complaints of shipment delays and staffing problems.

Solar companies are seeing a “severe impact” on both panel production and installations from the most recent round of virus outbreaks in China, according to a survey conducted by the Shanghai Solar Energy Society. More than half of respondents noted negative impacts, according to the group, which did not name the companies. 

Wafer production has been suspended in some factories in the coastal region close to Shanghai, driving up prices in recent weeks, Jefferies analysts including Johnson Wan said in an April 10 note. Domestic shipping of polysilicon, a key solar manufacturing material, has also faced delays due to outbreaks in the major sourcing region of Xinjiang, the analysts said. 

China is vital to the production of solar panels needed for the world to meet its climate change goals, with the vast majority of global production capacity in every step of the manufacturing process. 

The country is facing its largest documented outbreak since the pandemic began, with Shanghai in the midst of a weeks-long lockdown while other regions have introduced control measures that disrupted supply chains across the economy. 

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