3.5 Gw of solar tenders in limbo, thanks to tax and regulatory niggles

Some of the cancelled tenders were for large projects announced during 2015-16 and were facing delays and uncertainty over tariff

Lack of clarity over tax and regulations in the solar sector has pushed close to 3.5 Gigawatt of tenders to cancellation or delay for more than a year now. Of this, 980 Megawatt (Mw) of projects were under the domestic content category that has been shrouded in controversy.

Under the National Solar Mission, the Centre has kept a separate capacity to be awarded for projects built on domestic content. For the domestic content requirement (DCR) clause, the United States has dragged India to the World Trade Organization (WTO) for preferential treatment to the indigenous industry. This comes at a time