Competition Law Issues Affecting Renewable Energy Companies in India – Antitrust Law Series

Posted On - 17 September, 2025 • By - Aniket Ghosh

Introduction

India’s renewable energy sector is expanding at a pace unmatched in most parts of the world. With a government target of 500 GW of non-fossil fuel capacity by 2030, and sustained foreign and domestic investment, the industry now sits at the centre of India’s climate and infrastructure policy. Solar, wind, hydro, biomass, and increasingly green hydrogen and storage are attracting capital and innovation.

But alongside growth, the industry is also facing increasing regulatory scrutiny. Competition law is becoming a key dimension for renewable energy players, whether in competitive auctions, power purchase agreements (PPAs), supply chains, or emerging collaborations. The Competition Act, 2002 applies with equal force to the renewable sector, and the Competition Commission of India (CCI) has shown willingness to examine conduct in power, energy, and infrastructure markets.

Competitive Bidding: The Flashpoint

Auctions are the beating heart of renewable energy procurement in India. Central agencies such as the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) and NTPC, along with state distribution companies (DISCOMs), regularly conduct competitive bidding processes to allocate capacity. While auctions have driven prices down and created transparency, they are also the most visible flashpoint for competition law risks.

Bid-Rigging and Collusion

When multiple developers coordinate their bids either to keep tariffs artificially high or to rotate allocations, it constitutes bid-rigging, a serious offence under the Competition Act. Collusion may be explicit (direct communication between bidders) or tacit (parallel conduct reinforced by information sharing or signalling). Even informal exchanges of “what tariff range are you planning?” between industry players can create exposure.

Consortium Bids

Joint ventures or consortium bids are common where project risks are large. While these can be efficiency-enhancing, they become problematic if used merely as a cover to eliminate competition between otherwise independent bidders. Companies must ensure that consortium arrangements are backed by genuine risk-sharing, capital pooling, or technological complementarity.

Role of Advisors and OEMs

Bid consultants, OEM suppliers, and common financing partners often interact with multiple bidders. If they become conduits for exchanging sensitive information about pricing strategies, bid volumes, or risk appetite, they can act as “hub-and-spoke” facilitators of collusion. Contractual safeguards and strict confidentiality protocols are critical.

Compliance Tip: Renewable developers should maintain strict tender compliance protocols, ensure that all bid-related communications are internal and documented, and avoid even casual exchanges of tariff expectations with competitors.

Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) and Long-Term Contracts

PPAs are the backbone of renewable projects, ensuring revenue certainty and bankability. However, the long-term and often inflexible nature of PPAs raises competition law concerns.

Exclusivity and Minimum Offtake: PPAs that require buyers to source all or most of their renewable needs from a single developer may foreclose opportunities for others, especially in states with limited procurement. Similarly, minimum offtake clauses that tie up a large share of DISCOM demand can create exclusionary effects.

Change-in-Law and Termination Rights: Developers often seek strong protection clauses. If such clauses are drafted in a discriminatory way for example, offering more favourable terms to one generator over another in a similar position, regulators may view them as anti-competitive.

Captive and Group Captive Structures: Captive PPAs with industrial buyers can be efficient, but where a dominant generator uses exclusive agreements to foreclose rival suppliers, competition law risks arise.

Compliance Tip: PPA templates should be vetted for fairness, transparency, and non-exclusionary impact. Clauses should be objectively justifiable on efficiency grounds, not designed to lock out rivals.

Supply Chain and Technology Concentration

The renewable energy supply chain is globally interconnected but locally concentrated in certain segments. In wind, for example, a handful of turbine manufacturers dominate supply. In solar, while global module markets are fragmented, dependence on imported panels has created vulnerability.

Exclusive Supply Arrangements: Developers that sign exclusive supply or “preferred partner” agreements with turbine or module manufacturers risk foreclosing rival developers’ access to critical inputs. If a supplier with market power refuses to deal with competitors or ties sales to other services (like O&M), scrutiny may follow.

Aftermarket Restrictions: Many OEMs insist on long-term O&M contracts bundled with equipment sales. While this ensures reliability, it may also restrict competition in the aftermarket for spare parts and maintenance.

Price Coordination Risks: If OEMs or suppliers exchange information about pricing or delivery schedules, it could spill over into coordinated pricing in the developer market.

Compliance Tip: Developers and suppliers should ensure that exclusivity or bundling is narrowly tailored, time-limited, and efficiency-justified. Independent aftermarket competition should be preserved wherever possible.

Vertical Integration and Market Foreclosure

As the sector consolidates, vertical integration where a company controls multiple parts of the value chain creates both efficiencies and risks.

  • Generators and DISCOMs: Where a renewable developer is affiliated with a distribution company, risks arise if open access or wheeling charges are set in a discriminatory way to disadvantage rival generators.
  • Generators and Industrial Buyers: Captive and group captive models can become problematic if dominant generators use exclusive contracts to foreclose others from accessing high-demand industrial customers.
  • Transmission and Evacuation Infrastructure: Developers with control over evacuation lines or substations must ensure open and non-discriminatory access. Using control of infrastructure to limit rivals’ ability to evacuate power could be seen as exclusionary.

Regional and Technology-Specific Dominance Risks

Dominance in renewables is unlikely at the national level due to fragmented ownership. But in specific geographies or technologies, dominance can emerge:

  • A wind OEM controlling most installations in Tamil Nadu or Gujarat.
  • A solar developer with majority PPAs in a particular DISCOM’s procurement.
  • Battery storage providers in early markets with limited capacity.
  • Emerging hydrogen clusters where a few players initially dominate supply.
  • In such cases, conduct such as excessive pricing, discriminatory treatment, refusal to deal, or tying arrangements could be construed as abuse of dominance.
  • Compliance Tip: Companies should periodically assess their market shares regionally and by technology, and calibrate contractual practices accordingly.

Industry Associations and Collaboration Platforms

Industry bodies such as the Indian Wind Power Association (IWPA) and solar developer forums play a major role in policy advocacy. However, they are also frequent areas of concern for regulators.

  • Safe Activities: Joint advocacy on policy, safety standards, and sustainability initiatives.
  • Risky Activities: Discussions on bid strategies, tariff ranges, capacity withdrawals, or collective refusal to participate in auctions. Even circulating detailed capacity data can become problematic if it allows inference of competitor strategies.
  • Compliance Tip: Always circulate only aggregated, historical data. Competition counsel should vet agendas and participate in sensitive meetings.

Consolidation is a defining feature of Indian renewables. Large groups like Adani, ReNew, and Greenko, along with foreign investors, are acquiring smaller portfolios. While this drives scale and efficiency, it also triggers merger control scrutiny.

  • Notifiability: Acquisitions crossing the CCI’s thresholds must be notified. Even minority stakes with control rights may require approval.
  • Regional Effects: While national shares may be modest, overlaps in specific states or technologies (solar vs. wind) can raise competition concerns.
  • Gun-Jumping: Pre-closing integration such as sharing bid strategies or coordinating on capacity before CCI approval can lead to penalties.
  • Compliance Tip: Use clean teams, non-disclosure agreements, and strict standstill covenants during M&A.

Emerging Areas: Storage, Hybrid Parks, and Green Hydrogen

Battery Storage:  As India scales up battery storage, a few early entrants may control significant capacity. Exclusive long-term contracts with DISCOMs or discriminatory access to storage infrastructure could be scrutinised.

Hybrid Parks: Collaborations where solar, wind, and storage are pooled can be efficiency-enhancing. But they must be structured to avoid coordination on pricing or capacity discipline.

Green Hydrogen: The government’s National Green Hydrogen Mission will create clusters of projects. Early entrants must ensure that collaborations do not morph into cartels controlling supply or pricing.

Compliance Architecture for Renewable Companies

A disciplined compliance framework is essential for renewable energy players. Elements include:

  • Tender Compliance Manuals: Clear rules for bid preparation, consortium participation, and communication discipline.
  • Training: Annual, role-specific training for bid teams, procurement, legal, and executives.
  • Data Governance: Prohibitions on sharing sensitive bid or capacity data externally; firewalls in joint ventures.
  • Contract Reviews: Periodic legal review of PPAs, supply contracts, and exclusivity clauses.
  • M&A Protocols: Clean teams, NDAs, and strict standstill obligations.
  • Dawn Raid Readiness: Manuals for handling inspections at offices or project sites.
  • Whistle-Blower Mechanisms: Channels for employees to report anti-competitive conduct without retaliation.

Top 10 Compliance To-Do’s

1. Train bidding and sales teams annually on competition risks.

 2. Ban all discussions with competitors about tender strategies, prices, or capacity.

 3. Establish strict protocols for consortium bidding, with documented efficiency justifications.

 4. Review PPAs for fairness, avoiding exclusionary or discriminatory clauses.

 5. Audit supply contracts with OEMs to ensure no foreclosure of rivals.

 6. Maintain firewalls in vertically integrated businesses (generation, transmission, distribution).

 7. Vet trade association activities to ensure focus on policy, not pricing.

 8. Use clean teams in M&A; avoid pre-closing integration.

 9. Prepare dawn-raid SOPs and conduct internal drills.

 10. Set up whistle-blower channels and leniency readiness playbooks.

Key Takeaways

  • Auctions are the highest-risk area for collusion and bid-rigging in renewables.
  • PPAs and long-term contracts must be fair and efficiency-based, not exclusionary.
  • Supply chain concentration in turbines, modules, and storage raises vertical foreclosure risks.
  • Regional dominance can arise in specific technologies or states, even if national shares are small.
  • Industry associations must stay within safe boundaries of advocacy and avoid bid discussions.
  • M&A consolidation is healthy but requires careful merger control compliance.
  • Emerging sectors like storage and green hydrogen will attract early scrutiny as markets form.
  • Embedding robust compliance culture now will pay dividends as renewables scale in India.

Conclusion

The renewable energy sector is central to India’s economic and climate strategy. Its rapid expansion brings not only opportunities but also heightened exposure to competition law enforcement. Developers, suppliers, and investors must understand that competition compliance is as critical as financial closure or regulatory approvals.

By embedding disciplined compliance frameworks from bid protocols to PPA reviews and M&A safeguards, renewable companies can both mitigate legal risks and position themselves as trusted, transparent participants in India’s clean energy transition.