CERC Grants Relief to TPREL and ENGIE Holding WRLDC Curtailment Premature and Unjustified
01.07.2025
On 20 June 2025, the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (“CERC”) delivered a significant order in favour of Tata Power Renewable Energy Limited (“TPREL”) and Electro Solaire Private Limited (“ESPL”) in Petitions No. 13/MP/2024 and 39/MP/2024, respectively. The petitions sought quashing of the curtailment instructions issued by Western Regional Load Dispatch Centre (“WRLDC”) vide letter dated 20.12.2023 and an email dated 26.12.2023 of solar power projects located in the 700 MW Raghanesda Ultra Mega Solar Park, Gujarat including TPREL and ESPL’s solar projects.
The dispute arose when WRLDC issued curtailment instructions restricting the schedule of TPREL’s 100 MW capacity to 82 MW and ENGIE’s 200 MW capacity to 164 with effect from 28.12.2023. WRLDC cited non-compliance with the Central Electricity Authority (“CEA”) Technical Standards for Grid Connectivity, Regulations, 2007 and its subsequent amendments particularly Clause B2(1) regarding reactive power compensation.
WRLDC’s actions were based on directives from the CEA’s letter dated 30.11.2023 and Minutes of Meeting (“MoM”) dated 20.10.2023 wherein 20 Renewable Energy (“RE”) Plants to whom provisional/conditional FTC were issued based on the CEA MoM dated 05.03.2023 and 22.05.2023 were directed to submit the compliance report mentioning the quantum of capacity of non-compliance which should be curtailed or suspended until they meet all compliances as per existing regulations. However, both TPREL and ESPL contended that they were not part of the 20 RE plants, therefore, curtailing them was not legally tenable.
TPREL and ESPL challenged the curtailment primarily on inter alia two grounds: (a) That they had achieved commercial operation before the issuance of the 2022 Working Group Report on grid compliance, and were therefore subject to compliance regime under Part-I and (b) That they had neither submitted any undertakings nor received conditional approvals that formed the basis of WRLDC’s restrictions on other generators.
Additionally, both TPREL and ESPL highlighted their efforts towards achieving compliance. This included commissioning detailed reactive power studies, placing equipment orders, and ultimately completing the installation of Static VAR Generators (“SVGs”) and inverters. They submitted all compliance documentation and test reports to WRLDC to demonstrate the technical upgrades.
WRLDC maintained that the reactive power compliance had to be assessed at the pooled interconnection point (“POI”) of the solar park as a whole. It argued that the commitment made by individual generators in 2021 through undertakings to install specific reactive power equipment had not been fulfilled in a timely manner. Consequently, it contended that curtailment across all constituent projects of the solar park was appropriate, even if individual entities like TPREL and ESPL were not named in specific CEA communications.
Furthermore, WRLDC stated that there was no statutory requirement to approve plant-level studies and that compliance responsibilities lay squarely with the solar power park developer (“SPPD”) and its constituent solar power developers (“SPDs”).
On 20 February 2024, CERC granted interim relief by staying the operation of WRLDC’s letter and email holding that TPREL and ESPL were not part of the group of 20 RE plants referenced by the CEA and thus could not be subjected to curtailment without further scrutiny. This stay order remained effective through the proceedings.
In its final order dated 20 June 2025, CERC concluded that the WRLDC had prematurely restricted scheduling from TPREL and ESPL’s projects, particularly since they had not received conditional FTCs and were not covered under the list of 20 RE plants.
CERC criticized TPREL and ESPL for their failure to install the committed reactive power compensation devices despite giving clear undertakings in 2021 but acknowledged that they had now demonstrated conformance to the CEA Technical Standards. Accordingly, WRLDC was directed not to take any further action regarding curtailment and allowed TPREL and ESPL to continue scheduling power at full capacity.
Click here to read the Final Order.
TPREL and ESPL were represented before the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission by Shri Venkatesh (Founding Partner), Priya Dhankhar (Counsel), Nikunj Bhatnagar (Associate) and Drishti Rathi (Associate) of the SKV Law Offices Team.