India’s power sector regulator, the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC), has allowed renewable energy developers to retain their grid connectivity by paying additional charges when projects fail to meet stipulated development deadlines.
Under the new provision, power producers can seek additional time to meet land, financing and commercial operation requirements instead of automatically losing their connectivity rights to the transmission network. The move follows representations from several companies whose projects have been delayed but remain under development, amid disconnection notices issued by India’s grid planning authority.
CERC has specified a charge of ₹1,000 per MW per day for obtaining additional time to fulfil land and financing requirements, while delays in commencing commercial operations will attract a charge of ₹3,000 per MW per day.
The regulator has permitted developers to seek up to three additional months for completing land requirements and up to six months for securing financing. For commissioning projects and commencing commercial operations, developers may receive an extension of up to 12 months.
The decision comes as India continues to expand its renewable energy capacity and faces challenges related to the availability and timely development of transmission infrastructure. Several clean energy projects across the country have been delayed due to inadequate transmission infrastructure.
CERC noted that grid connectivity is a limited resource and that projects retaining transmission capacity without making sufficient progress can prevent other projects from accessing the available network capacity.
Developers that fail to meet the extended deadlines may still face cancellation of their grid connectivity rights along with the associated bank guarantees.
India is targeting approximately 500 GW of non-fossil fuel-based power capacity, compared with around 300 GW at present. The latest regulatory provision is expected to provide developers with additional flexibility while ensuring that transmission capacity is not indefinitely blocked by delayed projects.
The decision seeks to balance the need to support projects facing genuine implementation delays with the efficient utilisation of India’s limited transmission capacity as the country accelerates its clean energy expansion.
