Backed by rising power demand from commercial and industrial consumers, both rooftop solar and open access installations are expanding steadily in Odisha. Greater policy clarity and substantial power-cost savings continue to motivate businesses to adopt these renewable procurement models. However, as policies evolve rapidly and grid tariffs rise, developers caution that consumers considering a transition to solar must act quickly. Delays, they say, could expose them to higher project costs and reduce the economic advantages that solar currently offers. Installers say rooftop solar systems in Odisha typically offer a payback period of 4 to 5 years, and the savings extend beyond electricity tariffs.

The Chhattisgarh State Electricity Regulatory Commission clarified that a solar project operating under the virtual net metering framework can be located at a site different from the premises of the consumer. It held that technical limitations such as inadequate capacity of the local distribution transformer, cannot be used as grounds for rejecting an application. Instead, the distribution licensee is expected to augment transformer capacity, when necessary, provided the project complies with other regulatory norms. Sadbhav Renewables sought clarification on the interpretation of the Chhattisgarh State Distributed Renewable Energy Grid Interactive Systems Regulations of 2019, together with the 2022 Guidelines, regarding group net metering and virtual net metering.

The Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission ruled in favour of Sou Sushila D. Ghodawat Charitable Trust (SSDGCT) in its petition against the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company (MSEDCL) over the denial of net metering benefits for its rooftop solar project. MERC directed MSEDCL and the Trust to jointly recalculate the electricity charges for the disputed months and complete this exercise within 30 days. Once the revised figures are agreed, MSEDCL must adjust the excess amount in the Trust’s next bill and add interest at the bank rate on the reconciled sum. SSDGCT, which runs an educational campus at Atigre in Kolhapur district, is a high-tension consumer of MSEDCL with a contract demand of 1.05 MVA under tariff category HT-VIII B.

The Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission approved the power sale agreement between BSES Yamuna Power and Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) for the procurement of power from 500 MW solar projects with a 250 MW/1,000 MWh energy storage systems. The Commission said that the trading margin will be decided between the two parties. SECI floated a tender to select solar project developers to set up 2 GW of interstate transmission system-connected solar projects, with 1,000 MW/4,000 MWh energy storage systems, under Tranche XVII. Five companies were awarded a cumulative capacity of 2,000 MW of solar projects with 1,000 MW/4,000 MWh.

NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam issued a request for selection for battery energy storage system (BESS) developers to establish a 125 MW/500 MWh standalone BESS project in Chhattisgarh. The project must be set up near the 220 kV Khedamara Substation in Durg district. The project will be supported by viability gap funding at a rate of ₹1.8 million (~$20,300)/MWh, amounting to ₹900 million (~$10.15 million) for the total project capacity. Bids must be submitted by December 30, 2025. Bids will be opened on December 31. The BESS developer must guarantee a minimum monthly round-trip efficiency (RtE) of 85%, and support a cycle life of at least one full charge-discharge cycle per day, equating to 420 cycles annually.

NTPC floated an engineering, procurement, and construction tender to set up 2,670 MWh of battery energy storage systems (BESS) at nine of its thermal power stations across six states under Lot-2. Bids must be submitted by December 30, 2025. Bids will be opened on the same day. Apart from setting up the BESS, the scope of work entails providing interconnection with the existing thermal stations. It also involves providing comprehensive annual maintenance for 11 years for all stations except for the one in Barauni. Maintenance for the Barauni thermal station must be provided for 14 years. The BESS must include a battery management system, an energy management system, supervisory control and data acquisition, a power conversion system, and inverter duty transformers.

SJVN invited bids to set up 250 MW/500 MWh standalone BESS systems at the 1,360 MW Panipat thermal power station in Haryana. The last date to submit bids is January 6, 2026. Bids will be opened on the same day. The scope of work covers setting up the projects, charging and discharging of BESS on a demand basis, construction of the transmission network and the bay up to the interconnection point, and identification and allocation of land for the projects. It also encompasses operation and maintenance for 12 years. The project also entails securing all approvals, permits, and clearances required to set up the BESS projects. The projects must be designed for interconnection with the state transmission utility network.

Power transmission and renewable energy company IndiGrid executed definitive agreements to acquire Gadag Transmission (GLT), an interstate transmission system project in Karnataka, for ₹3.72 billion (~$41.36 million). The project is jointly owned by ReNew Transmission Ventures, which holds a 51% stake, and KNI India AS, a joint venture between Norway’s Norfund and KLP, which holds a 49% stake. GLT is a build-own-operate-maintain ISTS project. It is the first phase of the transmission program planned to evacuate approximately 2,500 MW of solar energy from the Gadag Solar Energy Zone. The GLT project includes roughly 187 ckm of transmission lines and a 1,000 MVA substation, with scope for further augmentation.

Surat-based renewable energy solutions provider KPI Green Energy received a work order from Gujarat State Electricity Corporation for the engineering, procurement, and construction of a 110 MW floating solar project at the Kadana Dam reservoir in Mahisagar, Gujarat. The project also involves providing grid connection infrastructure, including a 33 kV underground transmission line to the pooling station and 33/220 kV bays at the Kadana substation. KPI Green Energy will also oversee the project’s comprehensive operation and maintenance for 10 years. The project is slated for completion within 18 months. The tender was floated in February this year.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) approved a $650 million policy-based loan to support the Government of India in accelerating the adoption of residential rooftop solar. The financing falls under Subprogram 1 of the Accelerating Affordable and Inclusive Rooftop Solar Systems Development Program and backs the government’s flagship PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana. The PM Surya Ghar program targets the installation of rooftop solar systems in 10 million households by 2027. ADB’s subprogram is designed to address structural barriers, including fragmented state-level regulations, inadequate grid infrastructure for integrating decentralized solar, and limited access to financing for low- and middle-income consumers.

Solar solutions provider Apraava Energy secured ₹8.01 billion (~₹92 million) from impact investor British International Investment and Standard Chartered to expand its advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) footprint. Apraava signed financing agreements of approximately ₹4 billion (~$46 million) with BII and a separate agreement with Standard Chartered for roughly the same amount. AMI is a smart meter network designed to enhance grid efficiency, support grid stability, improve transparency, and enable a more sustainable power distribution by integrating renewable energy. Apraava said the new financing will help it install more than two million smart meters in homes and businesses.