In a significant setback for India's green energy ambitions, renewable power developers in Rajasthan are grappling with severe and persistent grid curtailment. Over 4 gigawatts (GW) of commissioned solar and wind capacity is being forced into near-complete shutdown during peak generation hours, a crisis that has paradoxically intensified after the recent activation of a major new transmission line intended to solve the problem.
New Infrastructure, Worsening Crisis
The issue came to a head during a stakeholder meeting on December 15, 2025. Participants revealed that projects relying on Temporary General Network Access (T-GNA) are experiencing almost 100% curtailment between 11 am and 2 pm, precisely when solar generation is at its maximum. This alarming situation has deepened since the 765 kV Khetri-Narela transmission line was commissioned on December 12, defying expectations that it would alleviate grid congestion.
Grid India, the national grid operator, disclosed that before the new line became operational, about 3.8 GW of renewable capacity was allowed to inject power during solar peaks under T-GNA. Following the line's launch, the Central Transmission Utility of India Limited (CTUIL) granted effective connectivity approvals for roughly 4.8 GW of renewable capacity. However, in a baffling turn, approximately 4 GW of already commissioned projects remain severely restricted, permitted to operate only in a staggered manner during non-peak periods.
Technical Gridlocks and Missing Margins
The Sustainable Projects Developers Association (SPDA) has challenged the official narrative. According to their analysis of Grid India data, the Khetri-Narela line has contributed a mere 600 MW of effective transmission margin. The association highlighted a critical discrepancy: while connectivity has been granted for around 5.2 GW of projects, only about 4.4 GW is operational, with nearly 850 MW of connectivity revoked. This, SPDA argues, suggests that an additional 1.5 GW of margin should theoretically be available, making the scale of curtailment inexplicable.
Grid India cited multiple complex technical hurdles restricting power evacuation from Rajasthan's renewable-rich zones:
- Voltage oscillations at renewable energy complexes.
- Low short-circuit ratios at key pooling stations.
- Loading constraints on the critical Bhadla-Bikaner 400 kV corridor.
- High loading on the 765 kV Bikaner-Khetri line.
Project Viability and National Targets at Risk
Developers have issued stark warnings. Sustained curtailment poses a material risk to project viability, debt servicing, and investor confidence. The situation is especially dire for projects still within their official connectivity start dates but forced onto T-GNA due to delays in associated transmission infrastructure. Prolonged shutdowns also hamper the operation of essential grid-stabilizing equipment like static VAR generators and harmonic filters, potentially undermining overall grid stability.
To address the emergency, authorities agreed on several action points in the December meeting:
- Sharing PMU data with developers to help mitigate voltage oscillations.
- Providing firm commissioning timelines for under-construction transmission projects.
- Expediting the upgrade of the Bhadla-Bikaner 400 kV line.
Grid India and CTUIL will also jointly explore additional measures, including using dynamic line rating technology, to be presented at the next National Committee on Transmission meeting.
Separately, the SPDA has called for urgent interventions, such as evaluating a Special Protection Scheme (SPS) for Rajasthan, interim allocation of limited evacuation capacity, and dynamic reallocation of unused GNA margins to stranded T-GNA generators.
While new transmission lines, including the second circuit of Bhadla II-Sikar II, are slated for commissioning in the next six months, developers express concern over the lack of clarity on how much incremental evacuation capacity these will actually unlock. Stakeholders caution that without swift corrective action, continued curtailment in Rajasthan could slow renewable capacity additions, create stressed assets, and jeopardize India's target of achieving 500 GW of non-fossil capacity by 2030.
