I would like to update you on how our team at Clean Energy Associates is navigating the evolving global situation with COVID-19.

First and foremost, we have the deepest sympathy for everyone who has been affected by the virus. Even as factories resume production and companies throughout the solar and storage supply chain operate at partial or full capacity, this pandemic will continue to cause disruptions across the globe for months to come. The toll on people and economies, and the resulting changes in how we all do business together, are still being revealed.

I am thankful to report that as of today our Clean Energy Associates team members and their families located in 12 countries remain healthy and have no known cases of COVID-19. Since the start of the pandemic in mid-January, we took early precautions for our 70+ team members based in Asia to ensure their safety and health. CEA complied with all regulatory frameworks in China, including home quarantines and social distancing requirements, upon the reopening of our Shanghai and Changzhou offices.  As the virus spread outside of China, CEA also supported its 50+ professionals throughout Asia, North America and Europe to ensure their safety and health as well.

Within the US, we still have an office in Denver, but many of our team had already been working remotely from their home offices throughout the country or visiting job sites, so the effects of the COVID-19 disruption have been minimal. In fact, CEA maintained our commitment to growth as requested by our clients and added talent to the organization during this period, and we plan to continue to hire more talent going forward. In the meantime, we continue to adhere to social distancing guidelines and other healthy precautions such as the use of PPE, and have shipped over 7,000 masks to our teams, customers and health care workers via donations to several hospitals.  These provisions have kept the CEA family safe in the US, China, India, the Philippines and other engineers and inspectors working in factories around the world during this period.  

At the same time, our commercial and supply chain teams have been maintaining executive relationships and helping our clients gain access to factories across Asia. We’re working in those factories today with protective equipment to keep our teams safe, and at the receiving end in the 55 countries where we do business, to assure the high-quality components you’ve come to expect. Our work to support a diversified supply chain, conducting quality assurance and engineering services across the entire solar and storage sector, has never been more important.

I believe that renewable energy will be a bright spot in the eventual recovery of the global economy. Pent-up capital demand for renewables, and the favorable project returns our sector provides, will create opportunities for many countries to grow despite the contraction caused by COVID-19. We will continue to execute the work required by our clients and partners so that we can help them deploy more solar and storage solutions worldwide.

Recovery is coming, so our watchwords as always are “diversification,” and “quality assurance.”

Recently I shared more thoughts on how the pandemic is affecting our sectors in a column for Solar Power World, “The effects of coronavirus and the flight to quality assurance,” and one in PV Tech, “Lessons from the COVID-19 outbreak: Managing global supply chains amid uncertainty.” I’d like to hear your thoughts, so please be in touch at aklump@cea3.com.

Together, working in collaboration with all our suppliers and customers, our industry will navigate the uncertainties ahead, and emerge stronger than before as we create a better future.

Let us know how we can help,

Andy Klump
Founder and CEO
Clean Energy Associates