Power Ministry Allows Co-located BESS to Use Curtailed T-GNA Power

The power ministry has officially permitted renewable energy projects to use curtailed power routed through Temporary General Network Access to charge additional co-located battery energy storage systems and sell that stored electricity independently, according to government policy documents.

This regulatory shift targets a persistent operational bottleneck in the country’s clean energy transition. Wind and solar developers frequently face grid curtailment when transmission capacity falls short of generation, forcing them to waste zero-carbon power. Under the updated framework, facilities can redirect these curtailed volumes into co-located BESS assets instead of letting the clean energy go uncaptured.

Industry stakeholders including the National Solar Energy Federation of India, the Solar Energy Corporation of India, and NTPC Limited have closely tracked regulatory mechanisms governing storage integration. Independent power producers can now utilize power exchanges to trade the stored electricity separately from their primary long-term power purchase agreements, creating an alternate revenue stream from otherwise lost generation.

The framework relies on the interstate transmission system and designated access protocols such as T-GNA to account for power flows accurately. By decoupling the storage and sale of curtailed units from mandatory supply schedules, the ministry aims to improve project economics for merchant battery installations. Developers can deploy stored energy during peak demand windows when grid prices are higher, smoothing out supply intermittency for distribution companies and large commercial buyers.

Market participants are evaluating how power exchanges will handle the independent scheduling and dispatch of these merchant volumes. Transmission utilities and system operators will issue operational guidelines to meter and verify the exact quantum of curtailed green energy diverted into storage units, ensuring compliance with interstate transmission accounting standards.