Why Indian Regulatory Delays Should Scare Your Project Legal Team

The Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission has granted Kenoor Organics and seven other companies a six-month extension to complete their 1.19 MW solar project in Bharuch, citing delays due to irregular monsoons, bridge construction, and global supply chain issues.

Stop scrolling. Yes, this is an Indian regulatory filing for a tiny 1.19 MW plant. But if you’re a European developer, this is your wake-up call on force majeure definitions.

Look at the list of excuses: irregular monsoons and bridge construction. If you tried to tell a German or Dutch grid operator that your project is delayed because it rained too much or the local municipality is slow with road works, they’d laugh you out of the room—or hit you with liquidated damages so fast your head would spin.

The Reality Check for EU Developers:

Contractual Rigidity: In the EU, EPC contracts are tightening. Since the supply chain shocks of 2021-2022, manufacturers like SMA or Huawei aren’t handing out delivery guarantees without penalty clauses.
Grid Connection Risk: We are seeing an uptick in delayed grid connections across the EU, particularly in the Netherlands (TenneT) and Spain. When the grid isn’t ready, you don’t get a "monsoon extension." You get a financing hole.
The Burden of Proof: The fact that DGVCL (the local utility) opposed this extension is the only sane part of this story. In Europe, if your project fails to hit the commissioning date required by your PPA, you’re often on the hook for the difference in market power prices.

If your current legal counsel isn’t writing "Force Majeure" clauses that explicitly account for local infrastructure failures and grid bottlenecks, you are setting yourself up for failure. Don’t assume the regulator will be as generous as the GERC when your 5MW site in Brandenburg misses its deadline because a bridge was closed. Keep your contingencies tight, your liquidated damages capped, and your grid connection agreements watertight.

Why it matters: Regulatory sympathy is a myth; if your project misses its commissioning window, your PPA will eat your margins alive.