India Plans Auction of Idle Grid Connectivity to Speed Up Renewable Energy Deployment

India’s power regulator, the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC), is considering auctioning unused transmission connectivity that has been blocked by stalled renewable energy projects. Although developers were granted around 31.8 GW of grid access based on letters of award, many have not executed power purchase agreements (PPAs), leaving critical transmission capacity underutilised and slowing the clean energy pipeline.

Nearly 50 GW of renewable projects remain without buyers due to low demand from state utilities, resulting in a mismatch between project readiness and grid availability. Developers often delay construction until PPAs are finalised, preventing ready-to-build projects from accessing the grid.

CERC’s proposals seek to fix this bottleneck by offering multiple pathways: allowing stalled developers to shift to a land-based route with strict timelines, imposing performance guarantees, swapping letters of award with PPAs from other projects, or surrendering connectivity for auction. The regulator also suggests that future applications may require PPAs upfront or be allocated strictly through auctions, highlighting the scarcity of transmission resources.

Stakeholders have been invited to submit comments. The move aligns with India’s target of 500 GW of non-fossil capacity by 2030, amid challenges arising from slow project execution and a transmission network (495,000 circuit km) that is unable to keep pace with rising generation capacity.

CERC's connectivity-auction proposal addressing 31.8 GW of stalled grid-connectivity awards plus multiple pathways (land-based-route conversion with timelines, performance guarantees, letter-swap, surrender-and-auction) reflects appropriate regulatory response to bottleneck complexity. Single-mechanism responses to multi-factor bottlenecks typically underperform; pathway architecture provides flexibility while preserving accountability.

The 50 GW-without-buyer plus 495,000-circuit-km transmission-network-cannot-keep-pace framing captures the compound challenge. Grid access, off-take demand and transmission-infrastructure capacity all need coordinated addressing; solving one without addressing others generates continued bottleneck. The upfront-PPA-requirement for future applications addresses part of this challenge.

For renewable developers, transmission developers, DISCOMs, financial institutions and technology providers active in Indian renewable investment, Cognitud's energy transition, responsible investment and market intelligence teams help clients evaluate connectivity-auction-and-related opportunities, structure long-term commercial arrangements aligned with 500 GW target trajectory, and prepare disclosures aligned with BRSR, ISSB and jurisdictional renewable-energy frameworks.