ISTS Waiver
To promote the development of renewables in RE-rich states and encourage inter-state procurement of renewables, the central government allowed waiver of ISTS charges and losses for solar and wind projects in 2016. Through various subsequent orders, the Ministry of Power (MoP) extended the deadline of ISTS waiver for some solar and wind project categories commissioned till 30th June, 2025. Recently, the ambit of the waiver has been widened for green hydrogen, large hydro plants, pumped storage hydro (PSH) and battery storage (BESS). We have tracked the several amendments and evolution of the ISTS waiver framework since 2016 below.
MoP Order Aug 2020
Date of Notification
5th August, 2020
Wind
No inter-state transmission charges and losses will be levied on transmission of the electricity generated from following power plants for a period of 25 years from the date of commissioning of the power plants which meet the following criteria:
a) Power plants commissioned till 30th June, 2023 for sale to entities having a RPO, irrespective of whether this power is within RPO or not, provided that in case of distribution licensees, the power has been procured competitively under the guidelines issued by the Central Government.
a) Power plants commissioned till 30th June, 2023 for sale to entities having a RPO, irrespective of whether this power is within RPO or not, provided that in case of distribution licensees, the power has been procured competitively under the guidelines issued by the Central Government.
Solar
No inter-state transmission charges and losses will be levied on transmission of the electricity generated from following power plants for a period of 25 years from the date of commissioning of the power plants which meet the following criteria:
a) Power plants commissioned till 30th June, 2023 for sale to entities having a RPO, irrespective of whether this power is within RPO or not, provided that in case of distribution licensees, the power has been procured competitively under the guidelines issued by the Central Government.
b) Solar PV power plants commissioned under ""MNRE's Central Public Sector Undertaking (CPSU) Scheme Phase-II (Government Producer Scheme) dated 5.3.2019"",and
c) Solar PV power plants commissioned under SECI Tender for manufacturing linked capacity scheme (RFS No SECI/C&P/RfS/2GW Manufacturing/P3/R1/062019 dated 25.06.2019) for sale to entities having RPO, irrespective of whether this power is within RPO or not.
a) Power plants commissioned till 30th June, 2023 for sale to entities having a RPO, irrespective of whether this power is within RPO or not, provided that in case of distribution licensees, the power has been procured competitively under the guidelines issued by the Central Government.
b) Solar PV power plants commissioned under ""MNRE's Central Public Sector Undertaking (CPSU) Scheme Phase-II (Government Producer Scheme) dated 5.3.2019"",and
c) Solar PV power plants commissioned under SECI Tender for manufacturing linked capacity scheme (RFS No SECI/C&P/RfS/2GW Manufacturing/P3/R1/062019 dated 25.06.2019) for sale to entities having RPO, irrespective of whether this power is within RPO or not.
Applicability of order
Applicable prospectively, i.e., from date of issue of order. (superseded February 2018 order by MoP)
Solar-Wind Hybrid with or without storage
No inter-state transmission charges and losses will be levied on transmission of the electricity generated from following power plants for a period of 25 years from the date of commissioning of the power plants which meet the following criteria:
a) Power plants commissioned till 30th June, 2023 for sale to entities having a RPO, irrespective of whether this power is within RPO or not, provided that in case of distribution licensees, the power has been procured competitively under the guidelines issued by the Central Government.
a) Power plants commissioned till 30th June, 2023 for sale to entities having a RPO, irrespective of whether this power is within RPO or not, provided that in case of distribution licensees, the power has been procured competitively under the guidelines issued by the Central Government.