On 17th March 2025, the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) issued an order in the petition filed by Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), seeking connectivity for its 254.5 MW Wind and Solar Hybrid Project to the Inter-State Transmission System (ISTS). RIL’s project is located in Jam Jodhpur, Jamnagar, Gujarat, and the company wanted to connect it to the ISTS at its Jamnagar oil refinery, located about 50 kilometers from the project site.

RIL approached the Commission under Section 79 of the Electricity Act, 2003, and under the provisions of the General Network Access (GNA) Regulations, 2022. The company requested directions from the Central Transmission Utility of India Limited (CTUIL) to provide connectivity at the Jamnagar facility substation. The company explained that the renewable energy generated by the hybrid project would mainly be consumed by its refinery at Jamnagar, but excess power would be sold to third parties via the ISTS network.

CTUIL and WRLDC (Western Regional Load Dispatch Centre) raised regulatory concerns about connecting a generating station and a bulk consumer at the same ISTS point. CTUIL said there was no provision in the GNA Regulations for such a shared connectivity arrangement between an injecting entity (generator) and a drawing entity (consumer). WRLDC pointed out issues regarding scheduling, metering, and compliance with the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) standards under the current regulations.

After discussions among stakeholders including CEA, CTUIL, Grid-India, and RIL, a decision was reached that RIL would act as the nodal agency for coordination. It was agreed that RIL would be treated as a bulk consumer for all commercial purposes related to scheduling and deviation settlement. Metering and energy accounting would happen at the 400 kV Jam Khambhaliya ISTS pooling station, which would be the point of interconnection.

However, RIL later withdrew its application for connectivity, citing issues related to land documents and their status under Gujarat government policy. The company informed CTUIL on 11th October 2024 that it was withdrawing its connectivity application. In view of this withdrawal, CERC concluded that the petition had become infructuous and decided not to issue any further directions. The Commission formally disposed of the petition on these grounds.