Scatec and ACME put $400 million India solar development on hold

Norway's Scatec and India's ACME have decided to put a 900-megawatt (MW) $400 million solar power project in India on hold due to supply chain bottlenecks and rising import duties, the Norwegian company said on Thursday.

Scatec entered the Indian market last year by partnering with ACME to build the plant in the state of Rajasthan under a 25-year power purchase agreement with Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI).

The plant was expected to be completed in 2022 but building work had not yet begun.

"Scatec and ACME have decided to put the 900 MW project in India on hold due to lack of supply of domestic solar panels and a 40% import duty on solar panels to be imposed from April 1," Scatec said in its quarterly earnings report.

India, once of the fastest growing renewable markets in the world, has decided to levy customs duties on solar modules and solar cells to cut its dependence on China-made imports and boost local manufacturing.

On Tuesday, India announced it was allocating $2.62 billion to boost investment in solar equipment manufacturing as the country seeks to deploy 280-gigawatt of solar capacity by 2030.

(Reporting by Nerijsu Adomaitis, editing by Terje Solsvik and Elaine Hardcastle)