Coronavirus will cause a delay in decarbonising but will not pose a lasting difficulty to businesses’ ability to reach net zero.

That’s the suggestion from Michael Phelan, CEO of GridBeyond, who spoke to Energy Live News about the impact of coronavirus on the sector and its green goals for 2050.

He suggests plans to tackle emissions are likely to be delayed by six months to a year due to low confidence causing reduced investment levels, particularly in the renewables sector, but noted this would only be temporary.

He said while such delays were unlikely to slow the battery storage market as much, they would affect the electric vehicle (EV) market – however, he stressed oil prices and electric prices will inevitably return and consumption will rise again, after which point he believes the sector will “get back onto the path of wanting to decarbonise the world” and focus on dealing with the climate change crisis.

Mr Phelan noted in the short term, GridBeyond is largely working to help its clients maximise revenue and “get back on their feet” by bringing any cost-saving energy plans to bear.

He added: “In the longer term, I think we will be looking at resilience again, if there’s a case for them putting in batteries, if there’s a case for solar, if they should be looking at corporate PPAs for renewables and things like that but I think it’s definitely delayed by a few months – I think the primary interest of most of our customers is to get back on their feet and get that going again.”