Indian power exchanges and interstate system operation

India: interstate power market. Status: operational.

Wholesale design: Multiple licensed voluntary exchanges compete alongside bilateral and long-term procurement. Exchange products include day-ahead, real-time, term-ahead and green/high-price variants; interstate scheduling is governed by CERC regulations and the Grid Code.

Operator
Indian Energy Exchange (IEX), Power Exchange India Limited (PXIL) and Hindustan Power Exchange (HPX); Grid Controller of India/NLDC for ancillary services; CERC as regulator
Nominal frequency
50 Hz
Where energy trades

Where does energy trade in Indian power exchanges and interstate system operation?

Energy in Indian power exchanges and interstate system operation trades in 6 layers: day-ahead, real-time, term-ahead, green day-ahead, high-price day-ahead and bilateral contracts.

What a battery can sell

What ancillary services can a battery sell in Indian power exchanges and interstate system operation?

Indian power exchanges and interstate system operation has 5 ancillary-service products, across 5 families — frequency containment, automatic frequency restoration, manual frequency restoration, reactive power & voltage and black start & restoration: Black Start / System Restoration Service, Primary Reserve Ancillary Service, Reactive Power and Voltage Control, Secondary Reserve Ancillary Service, Tertiary Reserve Ancillary Service. Response timing, direction and eligibility for each are in the cards below, as the official sources state them.

Facts below are stated as the official sources state them. A missing line means the source does not state that value — never that the value is zero.

Frequency containment

  • Primary Reserve Ancillary Service PRAS

    operational mandatory

    Arrest frequency change immediately after imbalance through inherent/governor or frequency-sensitive response.

    Direction
    raise; lower
    Trigger / range
    Frequency-sensitive response governed by the Indian Electricity Grid Code; no single PRAS activation threshold is established in the Ancillary Services Regulations.
    Eligibility
    Grid-connected generating units and qualifying storage/resources subject to Grid Code requirements.
    Typical procurement
    No single national procurement quantity; requirement is embedded in system operation and unit capability.

Automatic frequency restoration

  • Secondary Reserve Ancillary Service SRAS

    operational

    Restore frequency and area control after primary response, addressing regional imbalance.

    Direction
    raise; lower
    Expected within
    30 seconds
    Full activation
    15 min
    Sustain
    at least 30 min
    Trigger / range
    NLDC activation for sustained frequency/area imbalance and conditions specified in Regulation 8; no universal public Hz threshold.
    Eligibility
    Interstate or intrastate generation, storage or demand response with bidirectional communications, AGC where applicable, metering/SCADA and minimum 1 MW response.
    Typical procurement
    Regional requirement is calculated dynamically by the Nodal Agency.

    Provider must begin responding within 30 seconds, deliver the full SRAS obligation within 15 minutes and sustain at least the next 30 minutes.

Manual frequency restoration

  • Tertiary Reserve Ancillary Service TRAS

    operational

    Replace SRAS and resolve longer-duration imbalance using market-procured upward or downward reserve.

    Direction
    raise; lower
    Full activation
    15 min
    Sustain
    at least 1 h
    Trigger / range
    May be triggered when SRAS deployment in one direction exceeds 100 MW continuously for 15 minutes or under other Grid Code/system-security conditions.
    Eligibility
    Qualified generation, storage and demand response meeting metering, telemetry, ramping and minimum-bid requirements.
    Typical procurement
    NLDC publishes/communicates dynamic requirements; no stable national range in the regulation.

Reactive power & voltage

  • Reactive Power and Voltage Control REACTIVE

    operational grid code service

    Maintain voltage profiles and reactive-power balance across the interconnected grid.

    Direction
    reactive injection; reactive absorption
    Trigger / range
    Voltage-control requirements and RLDC/NLDC instructions under the Grid Code.
    Eligibility
    Generating stations and other connected facilities with reactive capability as specified by the Grid Code.
    Typical procurement
    Location-specific and expressed in MVAr, not a national MW range.

Black start & restoration

  • Black Start / System Restoration Service BLACK_START

    operational grid code service

    Re-energise the grid and restore generation following a partial or total blackout.

    Direction
    restore generation
    Trigger / range
    RLDC/NLDC restoration instruction and regional restoration procedure.
    Eligibility
    Designated black-start-capable generating stations passing periodic tests.
    Typical procurement
    Location/topology based; not a national stable MW procurement quantity.
Getting paid to exist

Does Indian power exchanges and interstate system operation have a capacity mechanism?

No central capacity market. Indian power exchanges and interstate system operation has 1 capacity/adequacy arrangement — Resource Adequacy Planning Framework — and it works differently.

Resource Adequacy Planning Framework

operational framework

Electricity Rules and national guidelines require state commissions and distribution licensees to prepare resource-adequacy plans and secure sufficient capacity, with possible non-compliance charges. Procurement occurs through utility contracts and sector-specific tenders rather than one national capacity auction.

Auction held in 2025
No — No capacity auction for this market was found to have been held during 2025 in the sources reviewed.

No national central capacity auction operated in 2025. CERC published a staff paper on a possible capacity market only in 2026, confirming proposal-stage rather than operational status.

Caveats

Technical notes

Primary Reserve Ancillary Service is a Grid Code obligation; Secondary Reserve Ancillary Service is centrally activated; Tertiary Reserve Ancillary Service is procured through day-ahead and real-time ancillary-service segments of power exchanges.

Where this comes from

Official sources

Rules

Market explainer

Capacity-mechanism explainer

Current as of · from the Global Electricity Market Catalogue v1.2.0 (compiled to , CC BY 4.0). Facts belong to the linked official authorities; verify the current rules before design or bidding decisions.

Questions

Common questions about Indian power exchanges and interstate system operation

Who operates Indian power exchanges and interstate system operation?
Indian power exchanges and interstate system operation covers India: interstate power market and is operated by Indian Energy Exchange (IEX), Power Exchange India Limited (PXIL) and Hindustan Power Exchange (HPX); Grid Controller of India/NLDC for ancillary services; CERC as regulator.
Was a qualifying capacity event held in Indian power exchanges and interstate system operation in 2025?
No. Resource Adequacy Planning Framework: no qualifying 2025 event is recorded. No capacity auction for this market was found to have been held during 2025 in the sources reviewed.
How is energy traded, priced and settled in Indian power exchanges and interstate system operation?
Indian power exchanges and interstate system operation: Multiple licensed voluntary exchanges compete alongside bilateral and long-term procurement. Exchange products include day-ahead, real-time, term-ahead and green/high-price variants; interstate scheduling is governed by CERC regulations and the Grid Code.
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