The Rajasthan Electricity Regulatory Commission (RERC) has proposed an amendment that mandates energy storage systems (ESS) for all new renewable energy projects, except for hydroelectric power projects, with an installed capacity of more than 5 MW.

Such projects must install at least ESS for 5% of the renewable energy capacity (at least 2 hours of storage).

The Commission has invited comments from stakeholders before September 29, 2025.

The state transmission utility (STU) will serve as the nodal agency to process bilateral long-term and medium-term green energy open access applications at the intrastate level. The state load dispatch centre (SLDC) will process all short-term green energy open access applications.

The SLDC will also be the nodal agency for registration of intrastate entities intending to avail power through intra-state or interstate green energy open access.

Eligibility Criteria

Under the new rules, consumers with a contract demand or a sanctioned load of at least 100 kW, either through single connections or multiple connections aggregating at least 100 kW located in the same electricity division, can avail power through open access.

There will be no lower limit for contracted load or sanctioned load for captive power projects.

Consumers applying for green energy open access must have a valid grid connectivity either from STU or the central transmission utility.

BESS Mandate

The policy also allows behind-the-meter projects to procure power under a captive model for up to 200% of the contract demand.

Renewable energy captive power projects with contract demand between 100% and 200% must install a battery energy storage system for a minimum of 20% of the energy generated, exceeding the contract demand.

The BESS will be installed with separate metering to record charging and discharging of the battery system separately.

Green energy open-access consumers must not change the quantum of power consumed through open access within 12-time blocks. The limitation was introduced into the policy to mitigate high demand variation, which would otherwise have to be met by the distribution licensee.

Registration

Entities seeking long-term, medium-term, or short-term green energy open access to the intrastate transmission system must submit their applications online through the Green Open Access Registry (GOAR) portal of the national load dispatch center or the state portal.

In a move to streamline approvals, the SLDC will now process and recommend registration applications for intra-state entities within five working days through the GOAR portal.

The regional load dispatch center will handle registrations for green energy open access within two working days after receiving SLDC’s recommendations.

Banking and Scheduling

The updated framework also allows banking of renewable energy for captive consumption within the state. Renewable energy projects with a capacity of up to 100% of the contract demand can bank up to 25% of the energy injected or 30% of the monthly consumption from the distribution licensee, whichever is higher. Banking will be allowed on an annual basis.

Renewable energy projects with a capacity between 100% and 200% of the contract demand can bank up to 30% of their monthly electricity consumption from the distribution company. Banking will be allowed on a billing cycle basis for such projects.

During peak hours, adjustments to renewable energy will be made as approved by the Commission under the Time-of-Day tariff.

For injecting power into the grid, customers must submit block-wise schedules online in line with the Rajasthan Electricity Regulatory Commission (Forecasting and Scheduling and Related Matters for Solar and Wind Generating Sources) Regulations, 2017. For the drawal of power, consumers must inform SLDC and the distribution licensee of their block-wise maximum schedule, and it must be uniform for at least 12 time blocks (before 10 a.m.) of the preceding day of the drawal. Deviation settlement will also be conducted in accordance with the Rajasthan Electricity Regulatory Commission’s regulations.

Curtailment

In case of transmission constraints or to maintain grid security, the SLDC will curtail power flow on a transmission corridor in the following order:

Short-term transactions will be curtailed first, followed by medium-term open access transactions, and lastly, long-term open access transactions.

Short-term open access bilateral transactions would be curtailed first, followed by the collective transactions. Open access to a distribution licensee will be the last to be curtailed.

Intrastate transactions will be curtailed before interstate ones.

Recently, Rajasthan experienced a curtailment of renewable energy of up to 4 GW due to grid instability and a shortage of transmission infrastructure.

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