ISTS charges for hydro and battery storage projects waived till 2028

The Ministry of Power (MoP) has announced a full waiver of Inter-State Transmission System (ISTS) charges for Hydro Pumped Storage Projects (PSP) and Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS), under specific conditions.

According to the order issued on June 10, 2025, the waiver will apply to Hydro PSP projects awarded for construction on or before June 30, 2028. The same benefit is extended to co-located BESS projects commissioned by that date, provided the stored power is used outside the state where the project is located.

A BESS project qualifies as “co-located” if it shares an ISTS substation with a renewable energy (RE) project. If not co-located, the BESS project will be subject to the existing ISTS rules defined by the Ministry of Power and the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC).

Projects initiated after June 30, 2028, will not be eligible for the waiver.