India allows green energy deferrals due to COVID-19

The Indian government will allow renewables developers to apply for extended construction deadlines for their projects in the country due to the supply chain disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The outbreak of the novel infectious disease has hurt supply chains, the effect from which should be considered as a case of natural calamity and a force majeure event, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) said last Friday. This gives the right to state authorities and green energy agencies, including the Solar Energy Corporation of India Limited (SECI) and NTPC, to grant developers certain time extensions to the commissioning deadlines set in their respective contracts.

According to the new policy, developers will be able to apply for extended construction schedules if they show evidence and documents proving that the coronavirus pandemic is impacting their supply chains.

A few months before the global spread of COVID-19, rating agency CRISIL warned that India could miss its goal of having 175 GW of renewables generation capacity in 2022 by around 42% amid policy uncertainty and low interest in tender rounds. It then forecast the country’s installed renewables capacity at the end of fiscal 2022 will be just 104 GW.

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