Navigating Grid Curtailment: What It Means for Your ROI

  • "Backing Down" instructions from the SLDC can eat up to 10-15% of your revenue.
  • Plant A accepted every curtailment order as "bad luck."
  • Plant B used SCADA data to challenge unjustified orders and recovered lost revenue.
  • The difference? Knowing your "Must Run" rights and having the data to prove it.
Written by Abhinav 09-01-2026 10 min read
Marketing ROI

Let’s look at two 5 MW solar plants in Rajasthan, sitting just 10 km apart. Both connected to the same substation. Both commissioned in 2020.

Plant A is owned by "Passive Power Pvt Ltd." Plant B is owned by "Smart Energy Assets."

In April, the State Load Despatch Centre (SLDC) issued a "Backing Down" instruction. They ordered all solar plants in the cluster to reduce generation by 50% for 4 hours during peak afternoon sun.

The Passive Approach (Plant A)

The O&M manager at Plant A saw the order and dialled down the inverters.

  • The Logbook Entry: "Grid Unavailability / Curtailment."
  • The Result: Plant A lost 10,000 units (kWh) of generation that day.
  • The Financial Hit: The owner wrote it off as "Force Majeure." He believed that because the government ordered it, he couldn't do anything about it.

Total Loss: ₹40,000 in one day.

The Active Approach (Plant B)

The O&M team at Plant B also dialled down the inverters to comply (you must obey the SLDC). But they did something else.

They pulled the Grid Frequency Data from their SCADA system for those specific 4 hours.

  • The Discovery: The grid frequency was normal (50.00 Hz). There was no emergency.
  • The Real Reason: The DISCOM was simply backing down solar to buy cheaper power from elsewhere or manage their own mismanagement.

The Action: Plant B’s owner used this data to file a claim under the "Must Run" status protections. Since the curtailment wasn't for "Grid Security," it was deemed a commercial curtailment.

The Result: Under recent APTEL judgments and the Electricity Rules 2021, Plant B was eligible for compensation for their "Deemed Generation."

The Moral of the Story

Grid curtailment is a reality in India. But not all curtailment is legal.

If you don't have an O&M partner who tracks Backing Down Instructions against Real-Time Grid Data, you are likely throwing away lakhs of rupees every year.

Don't be Plant A. Let’s track your curtailment properly.