Adani Troubles Expose Messy Underpinnings of India’s Solar Boom

It was billionaire Gautam Adani’s most spectacular renewable energy win. Now a record solar auction is at the heart of a crisis that is testing not only his coal-to-airports empire, but the foundations of India’s green boom.

Back in 2020, Adani Green Energy Ltd. greeted the contract — 8 gigawatts of solar generation capacity, contingent on a massive expansion of cell and panel factories — as “India’s climate change promise to the world”. US prosecutors, however, allege that the victory led to more than $250 million of bribes, paid or promised by Adani and associates.

India’s ...