The Karnataka High Court has passed an interim order directing authorities not to enforce the revised Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) regulations against the National Solar Energy Federation of India and others, including wind energy producers.
Background of the Case
Under CERC's new Deviation Settlement Mechanism (DSM) regime, which came into effect from April 1, stakeholders are required to declare in advance renewable power generation for each pooling station or each generating station for the next day and next week. The DSM regime imposes stringent deviation bands with respect to shortfall or excess electricity supply from the declared value and also contains enhanced penalties.
Interim Order Details
Justice KS Hemalekha observed in her order: "Pending consideration of the writ petition and that the petitioners are willing to continue under the earlier DSM regime, the operation of Regulations 6(2)(b) and 8(4) of DSM Regulations, 2024, shall not be enforced against the petitioners to the extent of revised formula and enhanced penalties till the next date of hearing."
The court further stated that deviation up to 15% shall be governed in terms of the earlier framework and the petitioners shall pay deviation charges. The judge ordered notice to the central government, CERC, Grid Controller of India, the meteorological department, and others, and adjourned the hearing to June 10.
Petitioners' Argument
The petitioners had argued that the DSM framework penalises deviation from scheduled generation to maintain grid discipline, but renewable energy generation (solar/wind) is inherently weather-dependent and uncontrollable.
