Market & Policy

MNRE 45 GW Relief Package: What's Confirmed vs Pending

Shashank·Founder·September 3, 2026·8 min read

TL;DR: MNRE drafted a one-time relief package (Office Memorandum No. 238/10/2025-P AND RA, dated May 25, 2026) for roughly 44.8 GW of renewable projects with Letters of Award but no signed PPA, still awaiting Ministry of Power approval as of this update. A separate, related CERC order addressing transmission connectivity specifically has already been finalized, around July 13, 2026, freeing up roughly 15.7 GW of the 22.05 GW sitting stranded. Since 2019, REIAs issued 40.42 GW in Letters of Award; only 2.34 GW converted into signed PPAs, a 5.8% conversion rate. The pending package proposes a 100% ISTS charge waiver for fast PPA signing, two hours of BESS support for standalone solar, deemed RPO/RCO compliance, and deemed tariff adoption within 45 days if a state regulator doesn't act. That deemed tariff adoption mechanism faces a real legal challenge risk, since tariff-setting is constitutionally vested in state regulators, not MNRE.

Quick Answer

Question	Answer
Has the 45 GW relief package been approved?	Not yet. MNRE forwarded the draft to the Ministry of Power in May 2026, and no ratification has been reported as of this update.
What's actually confirmed already?	A related but separate CERC order, finalized around July 13, 2026, freeing up roughly 15.7 GW of transmission connectivity from stranded LoA projects.
What problem is this solving?	REIAs issued 40.42 GW of Letters of Award since 2019, but only 2.34 GW converted into signed PPAs, leaving over 22 GW stuck in limbo.
What would the pending relief package actually do?	Waive ISTS transmission charges for projects that sign PPAs quickly, offer battery storage support, and give developers a way to exit or continue stalled projects on revised terms.
Is there a real risk this gets challenged even if approved?	Yes. Legal analysts have flagged that its deemed tariff adoption mechanism may conflict with SERCs' constitutional authority over tariff-setting.

Why This Matters for EPCs

If you have India pipeline sitting on an old LoA with no signed PPA, two different government processes are moving on this right now, one already finished, one still pending, and mixing them up matters. The CERC connectivity order is done and already gives developers a real path to exit or modify stranded connectivity. The broader MNRE relief package, the one with the real financial incentives EPCs actually care about, ISTS waivers and BESS support, hasn't been approved yet. Knowing which is which lets you tell a client accurately what's actually available today versus what's still a proposal.

What's Already Confirmed: CERC Freed Up Stranded Connectivity

Since 2019, Renewable Energy Implementing Agencies, SECI, NTPC, NHPC, and SJVN, issued Letters of Award totaling 40.42 GW. Only 2.34 GW of that ever converted into a signed PPA. The rest, 22.05 GW, sat holding transmission connectivity under India's General Network Access framework without a real project behind it.

CERC addressed this directly. A draft order in Petition 11/SM/2026, dated May 6, 2026, became a finalized order around July 13, 2026, introducing a one-time framework covering LoAs issued between January 1, 2019 and May 31, 2025. CTUIL will publish the list of eligible projects, and developers get 60 days to choose from four options for their connectivity, retain it under revised terms, swap it for a new PPA, surrender it without penalty and recover their bank guarantee, or do nothing and default to the existing GNA Regulations. The commission estimates roughly 15.7 GW of connectivity becomes available for reallocation to other developers as a result.

This part is done. It's not a proposal anymore.

What's Still Pending: The Broader MNRE Relief Package

Separately, and this is the part that isn't confirmed, MNRE drafted a broader package addressing the financial and procedural side of the same underlying problem. Via Office Memorandum No. 238/10/2025-P AND RA, dated May 25, 2026, MNRE proposed relief for the roughly 44.8 GW of capacity affected, following a May 6, 2026 meeting chaired directly by the Advisor to the Prime Minister, with the Power and MNRE Secretaries both present.

The proposal has been sitting with the Ministry of Power for final approval since late May. No source checked here reports ratification. Multiple outlets describe the industry as actively waiting on it.

What's In the Proposed Package

Measure	What It Does
ISTS charge waiver	100% waiver for projects signing PPAs within 3 months of notification, or the standard waiver plus an additional 25%
BESS support	Up to 2 hours of battery storage support for standalone solar projects procured by states
Deemed RPO/RCO compliance	Applied from the PPA signing date for states executing within a 90-day window
Deemed tariff adoption	Tariffs treated as adopted within 45 days if the relevant SERC takes no action
Developer exit options	Exit with connectivity retained (NOC plus land documents or a Rs 10 lakh/MW bank guarantee), full surrender, or continue under a revised SCOD capped at 24 months from CTUIL's acceptance intimation

No direct fiscal or subsidy support is included, this is structural relief, not a cash payout.

The Legal Risk Worth Knowing Before You Rely on This

The deemed tariff adoption mechanism is the most legally exposed piece of the whole package. Tariff determination is constitutionally vested in state electricity regulators under Section 62 of the Electricity Act, and legal analysts have flagged that MNRE directing a 45-day deemed-adoption timeline may not survive a SERC that refuses to cooperate. If a state regulator declines to implement it on the grounds that it exceeds MNRE's authority, that provision could end up unenforceable in exactly the states where the underlying delay problem is worst. Worth treating this as a genuine open question, not a technicality, when advising a client on how much to rely on this specific piece of the package.

What EPC Teams Should Do Now

Step	Action	Why It Matters
Any client with an old LoA, no signed PPA	Check eligibility for the CERC connectivity order (LoAs issued Jan 2019–May 2025)	This part is already final, real, actionable relief exists now
Same client	Confirm they've been notified via CTUIL's published eligible list and are tracking their 60-day election window	Doing nothing defaults them back to standard GNA Regulations, potentially losing a better option
Any proposal discussing ISTS waivers or BESS support	Frame these as proposed, not current	The broader MNRE package hasn't been approved by the Ministry of Power yet
Financial modeling for affected projects	Don't build a model assuming deemed tariff adoption will apply	Real legal risk it gets challenged or goes unenforced in specific states
Ongoing	Monitor for Ministry of Power ratification	Once approved, financial incentives change project economics meaningfully

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Telling a client the full relief package is approved. It isn't. Only the separate CERC connectivity order is finalized.
Assuming the CERC order and the MNRE package are the same thing. They address different parts of the same problem, and only one is done.
Promising ISTS waivers or BESS support as available now. Those are proposed measures within the still-pending MNRE package, not current policy.
Treating deemed tariff adoption as a guaranteed fallback. It faces a real, credibly-flagged legal challenge risk in states whose regulators resist it.
Missing the 60-day connectivity election window. Any client with stranded LoA-based connectivity eligible under the CERC order needs to actively choose an option, doing nothing defaults them back to the existing GNA Regulations.

Where Reslink Fits In This Conversation

A client with a stranded LoA needs a financial picture that reflects what's actually available today, not what might be available once a pending package clears. Reslink's proposal workflow lets you model a project under current, confirmed terms now, then quickly rebuild the model once the broader relief package, if it clears, actually changes the ISTS or RPO/RCO math. That's a meaningfully different conversation than promising incentives that aren't live yet.

See the full mobile design-to-proposal workflow a new rep would actually run → Book a demo

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1. My project has an LoA from 2018. Does the CERC connectivity order apply to me?

No, based on what's confirmed here. The order specifically covers LoAs issued between January 1, 2019 and May 31, 2025. A 2018 LoA falls outside that window, worth checking directly with your REIA for how it's being treated separately.

Q2. If I do nothing, what happens to my stranded connectivity?

Under the CERC order, doing nothing within the 60-day election window means your project defaults to continuing under the existing GNA Regulations, you don't automatically lose connectivity, but you also don't get the benefit of actively choosing the option that best fits your situation.

Q3. When will the broader MNRE relief package actually get approved

Unknown. No source checked here gives a specific timeline beyond "awaiting Ministry of Power" since late May 2026. Multiple outlets treat approval as expected but not imminent on any confirmed date.

Q4. Is there a second, earlier CERC proceeding related to this?

Yes, referenced in legal commentary as an order dated April 15, 2026, running alongside Petition 11/SM/2026. Its specific petition number and exact scope weren't confirmed in the sources checked for this piece, worth a direct check if it's relevant to a specific project.

Sources

PV Tech, July 15, 2026: pv-tech.org, confirms the finalized CERC order, the 15.7 GW connectivity release figure, and the 40.42 GW / 2.34 GW LoA-to-PPA conversion data
Energetica India, July 13, 2026: energetica-india.net, confirms the four developer options and the LoA eligibility window (January 2019–May 2025)
Lexology (legal analysis): lexology.com, confirms the MNRE Office Memorandum details, the parallel CERC proceedings, and the Section 62 deemed-tariff-adoption legal risk
JSA (law firm client alert): jsalaw.com, confirms the two-hour BESS support provision and the mandatory resolution-pathway election mechanism
Mondaq: mondaq.com, confirms the May 25, 2026 Office Memorandum number and the "not yet finalised" status directly
Renewable Watch and Power Line Magazine: renewablewatch.in / powerline.net.in, corroborate the BESS support detail and the full measure list independently