2 months ago
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India’s renewable vigor assemblage is successful the midst of an bonzer build-out. Capacity targets are being met, investments are flowing in, and the state has positioned itself arsenic a planetary clean-energy leader. But beneath these header achievements lies a troubling operational reality. Take the illustration of Rajasthan, wherever much than 4,000 MW of afloat commissioned renewable capableness is incapable to evacuate powerfulness during highest hours, owed to grid congestion.
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This contented was highlighted arsenic a precedence hazard for India’s vigor modulation astatine the Bharat Climate Forum (BCF) 2026, wherever policymakers, strategy planners, developers, and financiers converged connected the presumption that transmission congestion and operational conservatism, alternatively than procreation shortfalls, are present among the astir binding constraints to scale.
Rajasthan has astir 23 GW of commissioned renewable capacity, but the disposable evacuation borderline stands astatine astir 18.9 GW. If curtailment was distributed proportionately, peak-hour losses would beryllium astir 15% – operationally inconvenient, but financially manageable. Instead, the load falls wholly connected projects with Temporary General Network Access (T-GNA), which look 100% shutdowns during highest star hours, portion projects with Permanent GNA proceed uninterrupted. This binary attack concentrates fiscal distress connected generators who commissioned projects successful bully faith, met their timelines, and secured each indispensable clearances.
More troubling is the persistent under-utilisation of transmission infrastructure itself. High-capacity 765 kV double-circuit corridors, each designed to evacuate astir 6,000 MW and costing ₹4,000–₹5,000 crore, are often operated astatine 600–1,000 MW. Utilisation levels beneath 20% are becoming routine. Therefore, respective commissioned projects stay connected but incapable to inject powerfulness owed to gaps successful associated transmission readiness.
Question of organization mandate
This brings america to an important question astir organization responsibility. Should the nationalist grid operator’s mandate beryllium constricted solely to maintaining stability, oregon does it widen to maximising the utilisation of publicly-funded assets wrong harmless operating parameters?
These transmission investments, present exceeding ₹1 lakh crore nationally, are recovered done user tariffs. When high-capacity corridors run acold beneath their plan capacity, customers wage for infrastructure that delivers lone a fraction of its intended value. At the aforesaid time, renewable procreation remains stranded, compounding inefficiencies crossed the powerfulness system.
The risks are asymmetrically distributed. Persistent under-utilisation of transmission assets carries constricted organization consequences. There are nary automatic utilisation benchmarks, nary ceremonial reappraisal triggers, and small transparency erstwhile show falls short. Renewable generators, by contrast, sorb the afloat commercialized interaction of congestion.
Technical solutions un-deployed
The superior constraints cited successful Rajasthan are voltage oscillations and the hazard of grid instability. These are existent challenges, but they are not insurmountable. Technologies specified arsenic STATCOMs, precocious reactive-power devices, and peculiar extortion schemes are globally deployed and good understood wrong India’s method ecosystem. Many caller plants are already equipped with static VAR generators and harmonic filters, yet stay incapable to inject powerfulness oregon supply system-support services owed to blimpish operating envelopes. The cardinal contented is progressively organization responsiveness alternatively than method feasibility. Months walk without published deployment timelines, staged mitigation plans, oregon clarity connected accountability, portion thousands of megawatts stay idle.
Conservatism without accountability
Grid information is non-negotiable. But erstwhile stableness becomes the sole metric of performance, the strategy people gravitates toward excessive conservatism. Operating a 765 kV corridor astatine 15-20% utilisation whitethorn beryllium the safest short-term choice, but it is not the astir liable 1 erstwhile evaluated against strategy cost, user interest, and nationalist vigor commitments.
Globally, precocious grid operators are moving beyond static information frameworks. They employment dynamic information assessment, real-time contingency management, probabilistic hazard evaluation, and adaptive enactment ratings, enabling higher utilisation portion maintaining reliability. These approaches necessitate greater operational vigilance – but that is precisely what modern, renewable-heavy grids demand.
Planning-operations disconnect
There is besides a structural misalignment betwixt readying and operations. The Central Transmission Utility plans corridors based connected projected renewable capacity. General Network Access is allocated to developers connected the presumption that planned transmission volition present corresponding evacuation capability. Developers put accordingly.
But erstwhile CTU plans for 6,000 MW, allocates GNA connected that basis, and Grid India operationally permits lone 1,000 MW to flow, the strategy creates a credibility problem. Planning assumptions and operational realities diverge truthful sharply that the regulatory compact breaks down. Developers program billion-rupee investments based connected connectivity approvals and transmission timelines, lone to observe that carnal infrastructure does not construe into usable capacity.
The hazard of this mismatch falls astir wholly connected generators. Institutions liable for readying oregon operations look minimal consequences erstwhile existent show deviates drastically from plan intent.
Path forward: recommendations
Addressing this requires organization rebalancing, not dilution of grid security.
First, Grid India indispensable beryllium explicitly mandated – and rigorously evaluated – not lone to support stableness but besides to maximise plus utilisation wrong harmless operational limits. Performance metrics should see some reliability and efficiency.
Second, curtailment successful capacity-constrained regions indispensable beryllium distributed proportionately crossed each generators, alternatively than imposed wholly connected T-GNA projects. The existent binary attraction whitethorn align with regulatory categories, but it produces inequitable commercialized outcomes.
Third, unused oregon under-utilised GNA capableness should beryllium dynamically reallocated done transparent, real-time protocols. Where evacuation headroom exists wrong harmless margins, it indispensable beryllium made accessible.
Fourth, erstwhile large transmission assets persistently neglect to present expected usable capacity, ceremonial reappraisal mechanisms indispensable beryllium automatically triggered. These reviews should measure whether constraints are technical, operational, oregon the effect of delayed strategy strengthening, and findings should beryllium published. Transparency strengthens nationalist assurance successful grid governance.
System indispensable deliver
Rajasthan’s congestion and consequent curtailment situation is not inevitable. It is the merchandise of organization choices – astir however cautiously we operate, however we allocate responsibility, and however we worth nationalist capital. India’s clean-energy modulation volition win not simply by gathering infrastructure astatine scale, but by ensuring it works efficiently, equitably, and successful the involvement of consumers.
Stability is foundational. But erstwhile stableness comes astatine the outgo of chronic plus underutilisation, stranded renewable capacity, and inequitable hazard allocation, the strategy imposes costs that neither developers nor consumers should beryllium asked to carnivore indefinitely.
The grid exists to present power, not to warehouse it. India’s renewable aboriginal depends connected infrastructure that works, institutions that are accountable, and operational frameworks that equilibrium information with performance. All 3 indispensable beryllium successful spot if the modulation is to remainder connected credible ground.
(Jagjeet Sareen is simply a Partner and India-Head astatine Dalberg Advisors. Views expressed are personal.)
