In an interview on the sidelines of the Mercom India Renewables Summit 2025, Shri Venkatesh, Founding Partner at SKV Law Offices, shared key insights into the evolving regulatory and legal challenges in India’s clean energy sector.

He drew attention to the growing backlog of legal cases resulting from increased market participation, outdated legal frameworks, and inadequate adjudication mechanisms. Venkatesh believes that India needed to transition from merely having policy intent to implementing it at the state level and regulating it promptly to achieve its clean energy goals.

Energy and Infrastructure is one of SKV Law’s key practice areas. How does SKV help renewable energy companies navigate India’s complex regulatory and legal landscape?

We are a firm specializing in infrastructure law, providing legal value at every stage of a renewable energy project. From the bidding stage to execution and eventual operation, we are involved throughout the process. For example, right-of-way (RoW) issues have become so common that they now require dedicated legal attention. Once a project is operational, disputes often arise with DISCOMs or with commercial and industrial consumers.

Our role spans from drafting and advising on transactions to strategic consultation and representation in disputes. Essentially, we’re involved in the project from initiation to the point where power reaches the end consumer.

ROW issues are a recurring problem in India. What are the key challenges developers face?

The primary issue is compensation. If you own a piece of land and someone installs a 220 kV or 66 kV transmission line across it, it can have a significant impact on your property and livelihood. In states like Tamil Nadu or Karnataka, these disputes often reach the High Court, which adds legal complexity. Legal teams must explain the framework, such as how developers operate under the Telegraph Act, to justify project execution.

What are the key regulatory risks renewable energy companies face today?

Historically, payment delays from distribution companies were a huge issue due to their weak financial health. Fortunately, this issue has been addressed through recent government regulations, and payments are largely up to date now. Today, the major regulatory challenges revolve around project execution hurdles, force majeure events, connectivity limitations, and frequent changes in legal requirements. Connectivity, in particular, is scarce and triggers multiple disputes.

Given the surge in renewable installations and emerging technologies like batteries, do you think Indian regulators are keeping pace with these developments?

Having a policy is one thing. But unless there is a law backing the policy, implementation will suffer. The Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) has framed regulations for technologies like battery storage. But most state electricity regulatory commissions (SERCs) have not responded with the same urgency. Electricity is a concurrent subject, so without state-level cooperation, national policy objectives cannot be fully realized.

What about emerging project formats, such as hybrid and floating solar, or those that impact local ecosystems? Are these bringing new regulatory complexities?

Pilot projects, such as floating solar, are typically implemented within a government-led framework, where the land or water body is already allocated and approvals are in place. For example, the Rehan reservoir project followed this model.

Problems arise in mainstream, vanilla solar projects in states like Tamil Nadu or Karnataka, where developers face ROW, displacement, and other hurdles. These regular projects often do not receive the same level of facilitation as pilot projects.

Are there comprehensive rules for waste disposal in solar and storage projects?

Battery waste disposal rules have been in place since 2022 and are pretty strict due to the hazardous elements involved. Developers are required to follow detailed procedures.

However, for newer technologies and other solar components, standards are not yet clearly defined by the Central Electricity Authority. India still relies heavily on international standards in the absence of detailed domestic guidelines. Additionally, although solar projects are currently exempt from environmental clearance, it remains unclear whether these exemptions will also apply to new technologies in the future.

What about circular economy models or second-life usage of components? Are there rules in place?

To my knowledge, there is currently no regulatory framework in place for the second-life use of renewable components. We are still in the early stages of our renewable energy journey, and widespread decommissioning is likely to begin around 2035–2040. When the time comes, I am confident the government will develop mechanisms to address this. Currently, waste management rules are in place, but the secondary use of waste is still an emerging topic of conversation.

Why are so many cases pending before electricity regulators? Is it a lack of Infrastructure or a growing volume of disputes?

It is a combination of both. As lawyers, we must also take responsibility for not always helping to resolve matters quickly. When I started in 2008, only a few large business houses operated in this space. With the expansion of small-scale and private players, the number of disputes has increased significantly. Unfortunately, judicial and regulatory reforms have not kept pace with the evolving needs of the industry.

There was an effort to create specialized tribunals under the Electricity Act, with proposals around 2014 and 2017, but that momentum has stalled. The Appellate Tribunal for Electricity has only five members to hear disputes across seven benches. That’s insufficient for today’s scale.

In your panel, you mentioned we build first and regulate later. What do you see as the most significant regulatory gap in clean energy today?

The most significant gap is that in many cases, regulations do not yet exist. While the CERC has issued about four regulations that cover a broad spectrum, most states are still far behind in creating enabling frameworks for new technologies. The challenge is no longer refining regulations; it is about making them in the first place. Unless state-level regulators align with the national clean energy mission, the sector will face ongoing implementation delays.

(Note: Sections of the interview have been paraphrased for better reading. Check out the video for a full chat)