Expected Impacts of COVID-19 on Renewable Infrastructure

The global COVID-19 pandemic has caused unprecedented impacts to global economic activity as governments have implemented social distancing initiatives in a bid to slow the spread of the virus. This has severely impacted livelihoods and businesses around the globe and seems likely to have lasting impacts for years to come. In the infrastructure sector, we have seen varying degrees of impact, with particularly sharp declines in revenue for operators of transportation assets like toll roads and airports, where utilization rates fell by 70% to 90%+ in 1Q 2020 in the most hard-hit countries. While many of these economic effects are likely to be temporary, companies will need to have the balance sheet flexibility and liquidity to weather the storm. As of now, the COVID-19 crisis is still unfolding, and equity and credit markets remain in a heightened state of volatility. In this whitepaper, we seek to answer some key questions about how COVID-19 is likely to affect the existing operations and future growth of renewable energy infrastructure companies.