21 April
Danish wind turbine manufacturer Vestas will layoff approximately 400 employees in the wake of uncertainty caused by the coronavirus outbreak. The move will primarily affect the company’s employees in Denmark as it narrows its focus to near-term deliveries. Vestas has also decided to defer certain R&D projects with immediate effect.
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Afghanistan’s state-owned utility firm Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat has cautioned that the country is staring at the risk of a blackout as the coronavirus outbreak has dented its financial ability to pay dues to nations from which it imports electricity. Uzbekistan, which is one of the key exporters of electricity to Afghanistan, has notified that it would stop the electricity supply if its payments are not made on time.
The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) has said that green energy could drive an economic recovery from Covid-19 by delivering huge gains to global GDP. The agency in its latest report said that investment in renewable energy would deliver global GDP gains of almost $100tn between now and 2050 by yielding a return of between $3 and $8 on every dollar invested.
South African electricity public utility Eskom has said that it may not implement load shedding until July as the Covid-19 lockdown resulted in the accumulation of significant power generation. Eskom spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha said: “We have doubled planned maintenance from the pre-lockdown levels of 4200MW to more than 9000MW currently, which – at some stage during the past three weeks – rose as high as 9800MW.”
