GERC Dismisses Suzlon’s Plea on Relief From Stage-II Connectivity Rejection

In its latest order, the Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission (GERC) has dismissed a petition filed by Suzlon Energy seeking a review of Stage-II connectivity for a 35 MW wind power project in Gujarat. The state power regulator upheld the decision of Gujarat Energy Transmission Corporation Limited (GETCO), which rejected the connectivity application.

The Pune-based wind energy company had earlier approached the state power regulator seeking relief. It challenged the GETCO order and said that the state power utility had imposed arbitrary conditions in the case.

What Is the Case About

The case stems from Suzlon’s application for 50 MW of connectivity. However, due to issues like corridor constraints, the state authorities had approved Stage-I approvals only for 35 MW. The firm had requested the evacuation of its green power through GETCO’s 66kV Nadadhri substation under captive use mode.

GETCO, while going through Suzlon’s application, had cited lacunae in compliance with the procedures related to connectivity. Suzlon said that GETCO had imposed some extraneous conditions, such as the demand for furnishing the consumer numbers for captive users. This, the firm claimed, was not mandated at the connectivity stage.

What Suzlon Said

The wind energy company claimed that such demands were impractical. It stated that it followed all the procedural requirements laid down by the authorities for connectivity. It said that GETCO, through such demands, had led to regulatory abuse and demanded the intervention of GERC in this case.

What GETCO Said

GETCO defended its case before the GERC, citing regulatory issues. It said that the requirement to provide identified entities stems from a September 2024 amendment of the procedure, which was aimed at preventing speculative hoarding of scarce transmission capacity. It also cited incomplete financial closure for the project, land document disputes, among other issues.

The state power regulator, in its order, said that the demand for identified entities indeed emanates from the amended clause of the procedure. It also cited material deficiencies in Suzlon’s financial closure and land documents, including a bank guarantee. Following the arguments, the GERC rejected Suzlon’s application and concluded that the move of GETCO was neither arbitrary nor unlawful.

"Accordingly, while clarifying that the Petitioner ought to have produced the details of identified entities, which is mandatory with the Stage-II connectivity application, we uphold the rejection of the Petitioner’s application by GETCO for failure to comply with the Connectivity Procedure 2023 read with the Commission’s Order dated 21.09.2024," the GERC order said.