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India's Solar Industry Seek CERC Intervention to Lift Power Price Cap

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India's Central Electricity Regulatory Commission reserved its order on a high-stakes petition seeking an immediate revision of the 10 Indian rupees ($0.10) per unit price cap currently enforced across major Indian power exchanges, following a formal hearing held on May 13.

Under current rules, power plants are forced to dump electricity at cut-rate tariffs during off-peak hours just to keep units running. However, the rigid 10 rupee per unit cap deprives them of the ability to recover those losses during high-demand, peak periods.

As per the statement the counsel argued that the restrictive ceiling has backfired, rendering the participation of energy storage systems in the Day-Ahead Market "completely unviable."

While the commission had previously segmented a "high-price" market to accommodate expensive generators, the petitioner, National Solar Energy Federation of India, revealed that the segment has remained virtually non-functional due to a total lack of buyer interest, it said.

This structural breakdown has severely constrained market liquidity and left flexible, clean-energy storage technologies unable to compete effectively, it stated.

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