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Industry documents reveal that India's stranded solar projects have doubled to more than 50 GW.

India's stranded solar power capacity, which is the amount of renewable energy that has been awarded but not yet installed, has more than doubled in nine months due to delays with transmission lines and other legal and regulatory issues.

The number of renewable projects in India that have won power generation tenders but still need to sign power purchase contracts with buyers has risen to more than 50 gigawatts, India's Sustainable Projects Developers Association said on June 27, in a note to the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.

Another letter sent on 4 October by the SPDA showed that stranded project of more than 20 GW was compared to another. Both letters were examined by.

The SPDA reported that India's installed renewable energy capacity is 184.6 GW, which is a quarter of the stranded solar-and-wind capacity.

In a letter sent to the Ministry of Renewable Energy on June 27, the SPDA stated that "India's transition towards energy independence is more than just building solar and wind power capacity. It is about making sure clean energy reaches the public at the lowest possible cost in the shortest time."

The ministry didn't immediately respond to an inquiry for comment.

India is accelerating its renewable energy as it strives to double the non-fossil power capacity of India to 500 GW in 2030. Government data revealed that a record 22 GW solar and wind power capacity was installed in the six-month period ending June.

Two industry officials with knowledge of the situation said that projects worth billions to companies such as JSW, NTPC, Adani Green and ACME Solar are stranded.

Requests for comment from the companies were not answered.

As part of the SPDA's core committee, leaders from some of India's biggest renewable energy producers Renew Power Group, ACME Group, and Avaada Group are included.

In a letter sent in June, SPDA stated that delays in transmission infrastructure, especially in states like Rajasthan and Gujarat, have caused many solar plants, to miss their commissioning deadlines. This has led to financial penalties as well as the potential loss of government incentives.

In the same letter, the SPDA asked the government to recognize delays in transmission construction and approvals as events of force majeure to protect developers against financial penalties and to expedite the regulatory permissions.

It said that renewable projects were also stalled due to long-running legal disputes about land and environmental permits. Several developers had halted their operations because of unresolved cases. (Reporting and editing by Frances Kerry. Sudarshan Varadan)

(source: Reuters)