The Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission (GERC) has granted a 343-day extension for a 70 MW wind-solar hybrid project to establish its evacuation infrastructure, including the 66 kV transmission line, associated bays, and metering systems.

The Commission acknowledged that the petitioner’s delays were largely due to uncontrollable and unforeseen events, including statutory and regulatory bottlenecks.

The Commission directed Gujarat Energy Transmission Corporation (GETCO) not to revoke the petitioner’s grid connectivity or encash its bank guarantees during this extended timeline, if the petitioner is willing to pay long-term transmission charges until at least 10% of the project capacity is commissioned.

Background

FSGE Renewable is the developer of a 70 MW wind-solar hybrid project being executed under captive use in Gujarat’s Amreli District. The project was granted Stage I and Stage II grid connectivity at the 220 kV Rajula substation, operated by GETCO. The developer was required to complete all associated evacuation infrastructure by March 11, 2025.

However, the petitioner approached the Commission seeking a 120-day extension to the deadline. FSGE cited multiple delays that were beyond their control. The first was a lack of clarity on energy banking regulations under the green energy open access framework, which led to investor hesitancy and delayed financial closure.

Second, a global market disruption led to a delay in the delivery of circuit breakers, which were essential for completing the transmission infrastructure.

The petitioner also faced right-of-way (RoW) challenges, including strong opposition from local farmers and landowners, which led to legal disputes and intervention by the District Collector of Amreli. There was also an extended delay in obtaining a no-objection certificate from the Forest Department due to parts of the transmission route falling within a newly proposed eco-sensitive buffer zone.

FSGE emphasized that it had proactively sought statutory approvals under Sections 68 and 164 of the Electricity Act, and kept GETCO informed of its actions. The company claimed that these delays constituted force majeure events, and therefore justified deadline extensions.

Opposing the petition, GETCO argued that the delays were foreseeable and attributable to the petitioner’s lack of diligence. It pointed out that FSGE initiated construction without securing all permissions and only approached the Commission at the last minute.

GETCO contended that neither the applicable regulations nor the detailed procedures for grid connectivity explicitly provided for a force majeure clause, and therefore, the petitioner could not seek relief on that basis.

It also highlighted that the banking regulation issue should not have affected the development of evacuation infrastructure, and that other project developers had managed to commission their infrastructure on time despite similar circumstances.

Commission’s Analysis

The Commission acknowledged that the applicable connectivity and tariff procedures do not contain a specific clause on force majeure. However, it had the  discretion to consider genuine delays arising from unforeseen and uncontrollable factors.

The Commission conducted a detailed breakdown of the delays. It first recognized a 98-day delay, caused by a Ministry of Defence notification that disrupted land layout planning. Next, it acknowledged a 34-day delay during which the Forest Department failed to provide timely clearance due to the route intersecting newly proposed buffer zones around wildlife sanctuaries.

The Commission then examined delays stemming from statutory approvals under Sections 68 and 164 of the Electricity Act, necessary for constructing transmission lines. It found that the petitioner only received these approvals on December 21, 2024, resulting in an 86-day delay.

It also noted that although GETCO provided standard drawings for transmission construction by mid-December 2024, delays in approval processes and procedural compliance on both sides added to the slowdown.

Most critically, the Commission found that RoW issues, beginning in late January 2025, remained unresolved as of June 2025, and resulted in a further 151-day delay. It emphasized that local resistance and administrative hurdles were not within the petitioner’s control and thus merited accommodation.

Summing all these periods, the Commission calculated that the petitioner had suffered a cumulative delay of 343 days due to legitimate and substantiated causes.

In a similar case, the Commission had recently granted a 465-day extension to set up an evacuation line along with bays and a metering system for a 100 MW wind-solar hybrid power project in Gujarat.

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