West Asia crisis: Government allows up to 4-month extension for clean energy projects

The move comes weeks after industry bodies sought relief from the ministry, warning that disruptions due to the conflict were affecting the procurement, manufacturing, logistics and execution of utility-scale renewable energy projects.

Meanwhile, government data also points to a slowdown in India’s pace of solar capacity addition in the latest quarter. In the April-June 2026 quarter, solar capacity additions stood at 11.8 GW, down 18.1% from 14.4 GW in the previous quarter.

In FY26, the country added 44.61 GW of solar capacity, of which 16.3 GW, or 36%, came from distributed solar, leaving 28.31 GW from mainly utility-scale projects.

Ministry invokes ‘Force Majeure’ clause

In its advisory, MNRE referred to an April office memorandum issued by the Department of Expenditure under the Ministry of Finance, which clarified that the situation in West Asia should be treated as a “war” and provided for a time extension of up to four months on account of the crisis.

“The Standard Bidding Guidelines for procurement of renewable power (solar/wind/hybrid/FDRE), issued under Section 63 of the Electricity Act, 2003, provide that the power purchase agreement (PPA) shall contain provisions with regard to Force Majeure definitions, exclusions, applicability and available relief on account of force majeure as per the industry standards,” the advisory read.

The ministry noted that the force majeure clause in PPAs recognises “war” as a force majeure event. Citing the finance ministry’s April memorandum, which classified the West Asia situation as a war, MNRE directed renewable energy implementing agencies (REIAs) to consider granting extensions of up to four months to eligible projects.

Policy intervention, commercial gas key disruption

The advisory was issued after NSEFI Sustainable Energy Federation of Industry, a not-for-profit industry platform established under the aegis of the National Solar Energy Federation of India (NSEFI), made a representation to the MNRE in July, seeking urgent policy intervention to address the continuing impact of the ongoing West Asia conflict on renewable energy project implementation.

As per the representation, a key disruption has been the availability of commercial gas, a critical input for several manufacturing processes. “Owing to shortages and supply constraints, a large number of Hot Dip Galvanizing (HDG) facilities are operating at significantly reduced capacities, while some have temporarily suspended operations,” it said.

The shortage has led to delays in the manufacture and delivery of galvanized steel structures and other components required for renewable energy projects, the industry body said. It identified several project-critical materials that had been affected, including insert columns, module mounting structure (MMS) components such as cleats and connectors, fencing angles, galvanized iron (GI) earthing strips, galvanized cable-support structures, string combiner box (SCB) mounting structures, transmission line towers and switchyard structures.

“Further, the disruption extends beyond galvanizing operations. Several upstream manufacturing processes — including structural steel rolling, solar glass production, cable manufacturing, aluminium extrusion and ceramic insulator production — also depend on commercial gas for thermal processing. The continuing shortages are therefore causing cascading delays throughout the renewable energy supply chain and materially impacting project execution schedules,” it said.

It said the supply-chain disruptions were beyond developers’ control, leaving a large number of renewable energy projects at risk of missing scheduled commissioning dates “despite timely project planning and diligent implementation efforts”. Such delays could also have regulatory and commercial implications, it said.

“In particular, developers face the risk of losing eligibility for waiver or concessional Inter-State Transmission System (ISTS) transmission charges solely on account of circumstances that are demonstrably beyond their control,” it said.

The representation further pointed out that the Ministry of Power’s orders governing ISTS transmission charge waivers already recognise this principle, allowing projects that receive extensions on account of force majeure events or delays attributable to government agencies to retain their applicable ISTS transmission charge benefits based on their original scheduled commissioning dates.