HERC Order: Faridabad Factory Wins Solar Connectivity Fight

Direct answer

On 21 September 2026, the Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission (HERC) granted deemed grid connectivity to a 6 MW captive solar project built to supply a Faridabad factory — after the state transmission utility HVPNL missed its 30-day statutory deadline by months. The order (M/s BSL Castings Pvt Ltd v. HVPNL, under Sections 142 and 146 of the Electricity Act, 2003) establishes three things every Haryana industrial buyer should know: deemed approval under Regulation 6(3) of the Green Energy Open Access Regulations covers grid connectivity itself, internal administrative steps cannot extend statutory timelines, and files must move by revolving circulation when director-level meetings cannot be scheduled in time.

TL;DR: If you are building captive or open-access solar in Haryana, connectivity delays are now an enforceable wrong, not a waiting game. The 30-day clock is real, and the Commission is willing to enforce it against the utility.

What happened in the case

The timeline, as recorded in HERC's 51-page final order:

• The project: a 6 MW, 100% captive solar plant at Bhojraj village in Hisar district, to supply BSL Castings' industrial premises in Faridabad through open access.
• 6 March 2026: BSL applied online for grid connectivity. HERC rules require processing within 30 days.
• HVPNL argued the application was complete only on 6 April (after a corrected bank guarantee) and that deemed-approval doctrine applied to open access, not to grid connectivity.
• HERC rejected both positions. Deficiency notices should have been issued within two days — the formal notice came only on 20 March, which the Commission called dilatory. Technical feasibility is an internal exercise that cannot start the clock. And even on HVPNL's own dates, the statutory period expired on 6 May without connectivity.
• The holding: deemed connectivity effective 6 May 2026. HVPNL's formal connectivity approval (30 June) and the long-term open access approval (19 August) both came after the deemed date.

The Commission's language was unusually direct: the delay reflected administrative lapses, red-tapism and an unacceptable degree of bureaucratic inertia.

What the utility paid, and what changes systemically

• ₹1 lakh reimbursement to the developer — ₹50,000 court fee and ₹50,000 litigation expenses (per UNI's account of the order) — payable within 30 days. No monetary penalty on the utility itself, because the MNRE ALMM List-II exemption window to 31 December 2026 meant the project suffered no material loss; the Commission noted the developer's claim of ₹1 lakh penalty plus ₹2 lakh litigation costs in ruling on costs.
• Accountability: HVPNL's Managing Director must conduct an inquiry to fix responsibility, with weekly progress reporting to HERC. Future delays can attract Section 142 penalties on the utility and on individual officers.
• The revolving-approval mandate: where Whole-Time Director meetings cannot be held within statutory time, connectivity and open-access files must move by circulation among WTDs — waiting for the next scheduled meeting no longer excuses missing deadlines.
• Doctrinal clarity: deemed approval under Regulation 6(3), HERC (Green Energy Open Access) Regulations 2023, explicitly covers grid connectivity, and deficiency-notice timelines are enforceable against the utility.

Why this matters for industrial buyers in North India

For a factory evaluating captive or open-access solar, the biggest soft cost has never been equipment — it is approval latency. A stalled connectivity application can idle a fully-built plant. This order converts Haryana's 30-day connectivity commitment from a paper promise into an enforceable right:

1. Your timeline is protected. If the utility misses the statutory window, you can claim deemed connectivity and recover costs — the same remedy this Faridabad buyer obtained.
2. Approvals are accelerating across the board. This order lands alongside HERC's September 2026 direction in Petition 34/2026 that green-energy banking applications be processed in parallel with LTOA applications rather than after them, and its dismissal of HVPNL's review in the Jindal Stainless matter directing a full-year green open access NOC for a 100 MW supply in Hisar. The regulatory message is consistent: statutory clocks bind the utility.
3. The 2026 procurement window is live. Net-metering and open-access projects commissioned by 31 December 2026 remain exempt from the ALMM List-II Indian-cell mandate — pairing this order's timeline enforcement with the MNRE window makes a late-2026 commissioning genuinely achievable for prepared buyers.

What a Haryana buyer should do now

• File complete applications with dated proof. The 30-day clock and the two-day deficiency-notice limit both turned on timestamps. Keep submission acknowledgements.
• Cite the framework in follow-ups. Regulation 6(3) deemed approval plus this order's reasoning is now the standard escalation path when applications stall.
• Plan the commissioning date around the ALMM window. If your plant can be commissioned by 31 December 2026, your EPC can use non-DCR TOPCon modules and avoid the Indian-cell premium from 2027.
• Size for self-consumption. Open-access and captive economics are strongest when exported surplus stays minimal; this project itself was structured as 100% captive supply to the factory.
• Document your costs. Court fees, litigation expenses and idle-plant costs are the categories this order reimbursed — records matter if recovery ever becomes necessary.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is deemed connectivity in solar open access?

Deemed connectivity means that if the transmission or distribution utility fails to process a connectivity application within the statutory deadline — 30 days under Haryana's Green Energy Open Access framework — the applicant is treated as having received approval by operation of law. HERC's 21 September 2026 order confirmed this doctrine applies to grid connectivity itself, not only to open access approval.

Which case established deemed connectivity in Haryana?

HERC's final order dated 21 September 2026 in M/s BSL Castings Pvt Ltd v. HVPNL, decided under Sections 142 and 146 of the Electricity Act 2003. The 6 MW captive solar project at Hisar supplies a Faridabad industrial plant through open access.

What penalty did HERC impose on HVPNL?

No monetary penalty on the utility, since the ALMM List-II exemption extension to 31 December 2026 meant the developer suffered no material loss. HVPNL was ordered to reimburse ₹1 lakh (₹50,000 court fee plus ₹50,000 litigation expenses), conduct an MD-led responsibility inquiry with weekly progress reports to HERC, and adopt a revolving-circulation process for director-level approvals. Future delays can trigger Section 142 penalties on the utility and individual officers.

How long does grid connectivity approval take in Haryana?

The statutory limit is 30 days from a complete application, with deficiency notices required within two days. HERC's September 2026 order confirms internal exercises like technical feasibility studies cannot restart the clock, and that files must move by circulation if director meetings cannot be convened in time.

Does this order affect factories outside Faridabad?

The order binds Haryana's utilities statewide, so any industrial buyer pursuing captive or open-access solar in Haryana benefits from the clarified timelines and remedies. Buyers in other states can cite the reasoning as persuasive, but the direct effect is Haryana-specific.

Can a factory still get the ALMM List-II exemption in 2026?

Yes. MNRE's 18 July 2026 order exempts net-metering and open-access projects from the List-II Indian-cell requirement for projects commissioned on or before 31 December 2026 — so a Haryana buyer who secures approvals quickly under the new enforcement climate can still build with non-DCR TOPCon modules this year.

Sources: HERC final order dated 21 Sep 2026 (M/s BSL Castings Pvt Ltd v. HVPNL), as reported by SolarQuarter (22 Sep 2026), Mercom India (22 Sep 2026) and UNI (22 Sep 2026); Vyqon regulatory tracker (28 Sep 2026); HERC order in Petition 34/2026 on parallel banking/LTOA processing; MNRE O.M. 283/53/2026-GRID SOLAR (18 Jul 2026) on the List-II exemption window.