The Bombay High Court permits malleable consumption of banked renewable energy, facilitates adoption of clean energy and guarantees unrestricted benefits of steady solar power among the consumers in Maharashtra.

The Bombay High Court has suspended the ban on the use of banked renewable energy during the non-solar hours by the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company (MSEDCL). The court held that the old multi-year tariff (MYT) system of permitting the use of clean energy any time except during peak periods would stand.

This decision follows an order by the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) to restrict the use of banked renewable energy to a range of time-of-day hours, which elicited complaints among developers of solar projects. They claimed that the limitation would decrease solar project savings and deter use of clean energies among MSEDCL customers.

The National Solar Energy Federation of India filed writs challenging the order by MERC, saying that the new restrictions were hidden and constituted exclusively to MSEDCL, unlike other distribution companies such as Tata Power and Adani Electric Power. On July 1 and August 8, interim orders instructed MSEDCL to stay within the MERC mandate.

As part of its discussion, the High Court stressed that the initial account of MyT would be a commodity, with clean energy being used any date but not during peak time. As the court explained, although solar hours could be billed, remaining units would not expire, meaning consumers have full credit on renewable energy that is banked.

This ruling is an important stride for clean energy policy in India, solidifying and legalizing the flexibility in using energy and the renewable efforts of India and solar energy. Both consumers and developers now comprehend the regulations of energy banking, indicating a potential increase in clean energy adoption across Maharashtra.