{"id":116140,"date":"2026-07-31T10:48:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T05:18:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=116140"},"modified":"2026-07-31T10:48:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T05:18:15","slug":"transmission-bottlenecks-threaten-indias-renewable-energy-boom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/transmission-bottlenecks-threaten-indias-renewable-energy-boom\/","title":{"rendered":"Transmission Bottlenecks Threaten India&#8217;s Renewable Energy Boom: Grid Delays, T-GNA and Financial Risks"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><b>Transmission Bottlenecks Threaten India&#8217;s Renewable Energy Boom Latest News<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Nearly 21 GW \u2014 about 9% of India&#8217;s installed renewable energy capacity \u2014 is running on temporary grid connections due to delayed dedicated transmission infrastructure, putting project revenues and clean energy targets at risk.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>The Core Problem<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Renewable energy capacity is being added <\/span><b>faster<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> than the transmission network needed to evacuate that power.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Around 12 GW faces restrictions on power evacuation during peak solar generation hours.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Power evacuation refers to transferring electricity generated at a plant to the point of consumption.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In FY26, about 6,900 GWh of clean electricity faced restrictions due to this mismatch; during April\u2013June alone, 8,133 GWh of solar electricity was curtailed.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Understanding the GNA-TGNA Framework<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Under the <\/span><b>General Network Access (GNA)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> framework, inter-state transmission-connected projects with long-term GNA get firm evacuation rights \u2014 that is, <\/span><b>guaranteed access<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to send their power into the grid.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Projects awaiting dedicated transmission infrastructure operate under <\/span><b>Temporary General Network Access (T-GNA),<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> a stopgap arrangement that allows scheduling of power only when spare capacity exists.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">During congestion, long-term GNA projects get priority, forcing T-GNA projects to curtail (reduce) generation \u2014 by as much as 70-80% of capacity, according to developers.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Electricity curtailment means the intentional reduction of power output from renewable generators.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Financial Stress on Developers<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Solar power enjoys &#8220;must-run&#8221; status in India, but can still be backed down for grid security, technical constraints, or transmission bottlenecks.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Developers get compensated for grid-security-related curtailment, but not for T-GNA-related curtailment \u2014 directly eroding revenues.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In Rajasthan, curtailment has reportedly touched 90-95% for some projects, with roughly 4 GW of state capacity affected.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Developers are increasingly funding operations through equity and reserves rather than actual power revenue \u2014 an unsustainable model over time.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As a result, the experts have demanded moratorium on principal repayment during transmission delays, interest-free\/concessional bridge financing, extended loan tenure without credit downgrades, and debt restructuring without asset reclassification.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Risk of NPAs and Systemic Impact<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Industry experts warn affected projects could turn into <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/npa\/\" target=\"_blank\">Non-Performing Assets (NPAs)<\/a><\/strong> if the issue persists.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They noted generators lose over <\/span><b>50% of generation<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> during peak solar hours due to T-GNA curtailment \u2014 a rate unsustainable beyond a few months for loan servicing.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">12 public sector banks, along with IREDA, PFC, REC, NaBFID, IIFCL, and SIDBI, cumulatively deployed about Rs 5.08 lakh crore in the renewable sector over FY25-26 \u2014 meaning financial institutions also bear risk if project viability deteriorates.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Analysts have flagged that continued slippage in transmission commissioning could hit capacity additions, cash flows, Internal Rate of Returns (IRRs), and investor confidence.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Conclusion<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India&#8217;s renewable energy growth is being outpaced by transmission infrastructure, trapping a significant share of green capacity in a temporary, low-priority access regime.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Left unaddressed, this mismatch threatens developer solvency, banking sector exposure, and India&#8217;s broader clean energy targets \u2014 making transmission planning as critical as capacity addition itself.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Source:<\/b> <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/explained-economics\/india-renewable-energy-transmission-bottlenecks-explained-10811033\/lite\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">IE<\/a> | <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.business-standard.com\/industry\/news\/transmission-bottlenecks-threaten-india-s-ambitious-renewable-energy-goals-126042801525_1.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>BS<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Transmission Bottlenecks Threaten India&#8217;s Renewable Energy Boom by delaying grid connectivity, causing power curtailment, financial stress, NPAs, and risks to clean energy targets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":116167,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[60,9109,22,59],"class_list":["post-116140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","tag-mains-articles","tag-transmission-bottlenecks-threaten-indias-renewable-energy-boom","tag-upsc-current-affairs","tag-upsc-mains-current-affairs-tag","no-featured-image-padding"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116140"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116140\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":116157,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116140\/revisions\/116157"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}