Gujarat's New Rooftop Solar Rules: What the 30% Cap and 1 MW Limit Mean for Your Factory

Published Nov 3, 2026

Rooftop SolarPolicy

Gujarat has rewritten its rooftop solar rulebook. The headline is a 1 MW cap on net metering. That headline is the less important part.

For a factory, the bigger story is a reported limit on how much exported solar power can be adjusted against your bill. If that limit applies to your connection, the way you size a plant changes. A system that looked right on last year's spreadsheet may now waste power on every holiday.

Here is what we know, what we do not know yet, and what to do next.

What did Gujarat change in its rooftop solar rules?

The Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission (GERC) has notified new regulations that replace its 2016 net metering rules and set out five metering options in one framework. The new rules are the GERC (Grid Interactive Distributed Renewable Energy Sources) Regulations, 2026, Notification No. 11 of 2026, as reported by SolarQuarter on 2 November 2026.

Mercom India confirmed the notification and the capacity range for net metering and net billing the same day.

The five options are net metering, net billing, gross metering, group net metering and virtual net metering. The framework covers residential, commercial and industrial consumers.

A note on sourcing: this article rests on published news reports. We could not read the notified text itself, and the reports do not give an effective date. Treat the details below as a starting point and confirm them against the GERC notification before you commit money.

What are the new capacity limits for each metering option?

Net metering and net billing run from 1 kW to 1,000 kW AC. Gross metering and virtual net metering go up to 4,000 kW AC. AC (alternating current) is the plant's inverter output. DC (direct current) is the panel capacity. The limits below are as reported by SolarQuarter.

Option	Reported capacity	In plain words
Net metering	1 kW to 1,000 kW AC (or 1,250 kWp DC)	Exports are adjusted against grid units you import
Net billing	1 kW to 1,000 kW AC (or 1,250 kWp DC)	Same capacity range as net metering
Gross metering	6 kW to 4,000 kW AC	Larger range than net metering
Group net metering	Up to 1,000 kW AC	Shares power across connections of the same entity and consumer category
Virtual net metering	10 kW to 4,000 kW AC	Shares power across locations within the same discom area

The reports do not spell out which consumer classes can use which option. One open question: a Saur Energy report from August quoted a discom petition saying the draft set a 100 kW eligibility threshold for virtual net metering. That does not match the 10 kW floor now reported. Check the final text if this option matters to you.

What is the 30% adjustment limit, and why does it matter for factories?

Non-residential consumers can reportedly adjust exported power only up to 30% of the electricity they import in each billing cycle. Anything above that lapses. Banking charges also apply to the adjusted units, according to SolarQuarter. Banking means the grid "holds" your exported units so you can draw them back later, and a discom usually charges for this.

Residential users get a very different deal. Residential prosumers under net metering reportedly get 100% adjustment with no banking charges, and annual surplus is bought at ₹2.25 per kWh.

So the message for commercial and industrial (C&I) buyers is simple. In Gujarat, the value of a rooftop plant now depends heavily on how much of its power you use on the spot. Exports are a backup, not a business case.

The report does not give the size of the banking charge, or say whether the 30% limit applies to every metering option. Those are the first two things to check. For context, one installer guide updated in October describes banking charges under the older framework at ₹1.50 per unit for demand-based consumers and ₹1.10 per unit for MSME (micro, small and medium enterprise) and other non-demand-based consumers. Those older figures may not carry over.

How much solar could a factory lose to the 30% limit?

The loss depends on how many days your plant sits idle while the sun is shining. Weekly offs, festival shutdowns and maintenance breaks are when exports pile up.

Take a purely illustrative example, not a real project:

A factory has a 500 kW rooftop plant. At a commonly quoted 4.2 units per kWp per day, it generates about 2,100 units a day.
The factory imports 60,000 grid units in a billing cycle. The 30% limit lets it adjust up to 18,000 units.
In a normal month with 4 closed days, it exports about 8,400 units. All of that fits inside the limit.
In a month with 10 closed days, say a long festival shutdown, it exports about 21,000 units. About 3,000 units lapse.

The example assumes all generation is exported on closed days and none on working days. Real plants are messier. A plant with a lower base load, or one that also runs fewer shifts, would hit the limit sooner.

The takeaway is not "go smaller" by default. It is this: size against your actual hourly daytime load, then test your shutdown months separately.

When does a Gujarat plant need a battery?

A battery is reportedly required when a consumer with contract demand above 100 kW installs solar capacity beyond its sanctioned demand. The battery energy storage system (BESS) must support at least two hours of charging and discharging per day, for at least 50% of the excess capacity.

On a simple reading, a factory with 500 kW of sanctioned demand that installs a 700 kW plant has 200 kW of excess. The battery would need to cover 100 kW for two hours, or about 200 kWh. Confirm the exact calculation against the notified text, since this is our reading of a news report, not a legal interpretation.

This matters for the sizing decision. Going above sanctioned demand now brings a storage cost with it, and that cost should sit in the same spreadsheet as the extra solar.

Does the 1 MW cap stop a large factory from going solar?

No. The 1 MW limit on net metering is not really new, and larger options exist. An installer guide already listed net metering in Gujarat at 1 kW to 1,000 kW under the earlier rules. The June draft proposed the same range.

What changes is the menu around it. A company with loads above 1 MW can look at:

Gross metering or virtual net metering, reported at up to 4,000 kW AC.
Group net metering, for one entity with several connections in the same consumer category.
Open access, buying solar through the grid from an off-site plant. The same installer guide lists eligibility at 100 kW contract demand and above, with wheeling and other charges.

Each option has a different cost structure, so a side-by-side comparison on your own bill is worth doing before you pick one.

What other changes should a plant head know about?

The rules also cover monitoring, connectivity costs and carbon credits. As reported by SolarQuarter:

Monitoring: systems above 1 MW need Remote Terminal Units. Smaller systems need SIM-based remote monitoring.
Metering: advanced metering with RS-485 ports or better communication capability.
Safety: anti-islanding protection and automatic isolation devices are mandatory. Anti-islanding shuts the plant off when the grid fails, so line crews stay safe.
Connectivity charges: from ₹1,500 for 1 to 6 kW systems up to ₹50,000 for installations up to 4 MW.
Carbon credits: consumers keep 100% of the benefit.
Portals: discoms must set up online portals for registration and approvals.

What happens to projects already running or in the pipeline?

The reports we read do not state the transition rules, so this is the biggest open item. The June draft said the framework would govern future applications submitted after notification. That suggests running plants are likely to stay on their existing terms, but the final wording needs checking.

What should a Gujarat factory do this quarter?

Re-run your solar numbers on hourly load data, and get the transition position in writing. A short checklist:

Pull the notification. Ask your developer or consultant to confirm the effective date, the 30% limit and how it applies to your metering option.
Map your closed days. List weekly offs and shutdowns for a full year, then test exports against 30% of imports for each billing cycle.
Compare your plant size with sanctioned demand. Going above it could trigger the battery rule if your contract demand is above 100 kW.
Ask about the banking charge. Add it to the value of every exported unit in your model.
Check third-party ownership. If you plan an OPEX (operating expenditure) deal, where a developer owns the plant, confirm how the new rules treat it. The reports we read do not cover this.
Check your pending applications. Ask the discom which rules apply to any application already filed.

FAQ

What is the maximum net metering capacity in Gujarat in 2026?

1,000 kW AC, or 1,250 kWp DC, with a minimum of 1 kW, as reported under the GERC regulations of 2026.

Can a factory in Gujarat still get net metering?

The framework covers commercial and industrial consumers, but non-residential adjustment is reportedly limited to 30% of imports in each billing cycle, with banking charges.

What happens to excess solar power above the 30% limit?

It is treated as lapsed energy, according to SolarQuarter's report. No payment for it is mentioned for non-residential consumers.

Is a battery mandatory for rooftop solar in Gujarat?

Not for everyone. It is reportedly required when a consumer above 100 kW contract demand installs capacity beyond sanctioned demand.

Do the new rules apply to my existing plant?

The reports do not say. The June draft pointed to future applications, so confirm against the notified text.

About SustVest

SustVest (SolarGridX Ventures Pvt Ltd) is a CRISIL Top-10 rooftop solar project developer in India (#5, 2026), running 80+ distributed solar plants (about 30 MW) across 13 states for factories, hospitals, hotels, tea estates and institutions. Under its OPEX/RESCO (Renewable Energy Service Company) model, SustVest funds, builds, owns and maintains the plant, and you pay a lower per-unit tariff with zero upfront cost. It also delivers EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) projects. Talk to the team at sustvest.com.