India Order Could Free Up 15.7 GW of Renewable Grid Access

India's Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) issued an order dated July 11 directing renewable energy companies to either give up transmission rights or provide additional bank guarantees if their projects are not producing electricity, according to Reuters, which reported on the order on July 13.

Reuters reported that the change could free up approximately 15.7 gigawatts of grid connectivity currently held by projects that are awarded transmission access but are not generating power. According to Reuters, a large share of renewable capacity awarded between 2019 and 2025 has transmission access but has not yet secured customers.

What the order allows developers to do

Under the CERC order, as described by Reuters, developers have options. They can surrender their transmission connectivity outright, or they can keep it by posting additional bank guarantees while continuing to develop the project on their own. The order also permits transfers of transmission rights within a corporate group, allowing connectivity to move to an affiliated project that is generating power but currently lacks grid access.

Reuters also reported that when connectivity is surrendered, CERC will first offer it to existing applicants within the same substation cluster, with any remaining capacity going to auction.

Coal remains the largest source of generation

Separately, a Reuters Open Interest column published August 17 reported that coal still accounts for roughly 70% of India's electricity generation and remains the backbone of the grid, even as clean energy sources have reached a majority of installed capacity, citing data from Ember and Global Energy Monitor. That column distinguished installed capacity, which reflects what is being built, from generation, which reflects what is actually being run on the grid, and noted that coal plants continue operating around the clock while solar and wind output depends on weather conditions.

A Forbes article published May 10 reported that non-fossil sources reached 50% of India's total installed capacity in June 2025, ahead of the country's Paris Agreement target, and that renewables supplied more than 51% of India's electricity demand in July 2025, according to figures cited in that article. Forbes also cited an estimated $160 billion annual investment gap in modernizing India's power infrastructure.

Why this matters for grid and procurement planning

MarketScale analysis: The CERC order signals that regulators are prioritizing connectivity for projects that are actually generating power over projects still negotiating offtake agreements. Buyers and developers evaluating projects in constrained substation clusters may want to confirm the current status of a project's CERC connectivity and what bank guarantees, if any, back it, since Reuters described higher guarantees as the mechanism for retaining unused connectivity. Because CERC has said leftover capacity will go to auction, interconnection access in constrained areas could carry different cost and timing implications than in the past, though the extent of that effect has not yet been reported.