Solar EPC for Factories in Odisha: DISCOM Rules, Approvals and Cost

A factory in Odisha plans solar with its distribution company, one of TPCODL, TPNODL, TPSODL or TPWODL, under OERC's net-metering order: net metering up to 500 kW or the sanctioned load, whichever is lower, within 75 percent of transformer capacity. Larger plants go the gross-metering, captive or open-access route. At the published ₹24,000–32,000 per kW excluding GST, 100 kW is about ₹24–32 lakh and 1 MW about ₹2.4–3.2 crore.

Which DISCOM will connect the plant?

Odisha has four distribution licensees: TPCODL, TPNODL, TPSODL and TPWODL, which cover the central, northern, southern and western parts of the state. Your bill names yours. The net-metering application, the feeder and transformer check, the meter and the connection all go through that company, so the timeline for the same plant can differ between a factory near Bhubaneswar and one near Jharsuguda. Odisha Renewable Energy Development Agency (OREDA) is the state nodal agency for renewables; check it, and the state's renewable energy policy, for any incentive that applies to your category before you finalise the commercial case.

What do the OERC rules allow?

The regulator is the Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission. Its net-metering order of 19 August 2016, amended in 2018, on 5 May 2022 and on 27 November 2025, sets the rules. The May 2022 amendment, issued after the Ministry of Power's 2021 amendment to the consumer rules, allows net metering for loads up to 500 kW or the sanctioned load, whichever is lower, as long as it is within 75 percent of transformer capacity. The November 2025 amendment lets a consumer use grid-tied or hybrid inverters, allows inverter data loggers with SIM-based communication in place of a separate generation meter, and puts the cost of meters and connectivity on the consumer, with the DISCOM testing and installing. Inverters must also meet the MNRE-stated standards for safety and islanding prevention.

The 75 percent figure is why transformer capacity matters. A plant that fits your sanctioned load can still fail the transformer check if solar already takes much of the capacity of the transformer that serves you.

Read our explainers on net metering, open-access solar and sanctioned load, and check your own figures in the sanctioned load calculator.

Who inspects and who energises?

The DISCOM inspects the metering and interconnection, installs or tests the meter and synchronises the plant. For electrical safety, an Energy Department notification uploaded in June 2026 under the CEA safety regulations, 2023 provides that installations connected at voltage up to 33 kV are self-certified by the owner through certified chartered electrical safety engineers, while installations under section 54 of the Electricity Act, mines, oil fields and railways stay with the Electrical Inspector. The same notification states that no consumer or occupier shall commission a generating plant above 500 kVA without the written approval of the Electrical Inspector. The scan is not fully legible, so confirm the current wording with the Electrical Inspectorate and build the step into the schedule. Our guide to electrical inspector approval for factories explains the usual sequence.

Connection voltage follows from your contract demand. OERC's Distribution (Conditions of Supply) Code, 2019, as published with its gazette, normally specifies 400 V up to 70 kVA and 11 kV above 70 kVA and below 555 kVA, with 11 kV or 33 kV up to 1,110 kVA. The code has been amended three times since, so confirm the current bands. A factory with enough load to net-meter 100 kW or more is therefore usually an HT consumer, and the plant feeds the factory's own 415 V bus behind its transformer.

How the approval sequence runs

1. Feasibility: the DISCOM checks the transformer and feeder that serve you against the 75 percent limit and your sanctioned load.
2. Application with the single-line diagram, load details, equipment data sheets and the inverter and module details.
3. Design and procurement of modules, inverters and structure against current ALMM rules.
4. Installation, then inspection by the DISCOM and the electrical safety step that applies to your plant size.
5. Meter installation, synchronisation and commissioning, with the commissioning record kept on file.

Ask the quotation to show installation and approvals as separate lines, with who files each application and who pays each fee.

What does the cost band mean at 100 kW, 500 kW and 1 MW?

Secured Engineers publishes a C&I solar band of ₹24,000–32,000 per kW excluding GST on its solar EPC page. Larger plants sit toward the lower end. These are indicative, not a quotation.

Odisha adds its own cost drivers. The coast is exposed to cyclones, so ask for the wind design basis of the structure; salt air near Paradip or Gopalpur calls for better coatings; and our size pages use a planning range of about 105–115 units per kW per month for eastern India, below the north Indian figure. Run your own bill through the solar calculator. If you net-meter or use open access, MNRE's orders also require modules on ALMM List-I and, for plants commissioned after 31 December 2026, cells on List-II; see our ALMM guide.

Where does demand sit in Odisha?

Solar demand follows industrial load. The state's investment compendium lists industrial parks and infrastructure at Angul (an aluminium park), Jharsuguda, Rourkela, Kalinganagar in Jajpur and Paradip, with private industrial parks at Cuttack, Khordha, Balasore and Jharsuguda, and the state lists an ESDM park in Bhubaneswar and a plastics park at Paradeep. Some of these are proposals, so treat the list as where load is planned or growing, not as a finished map. Large metals and process loads in these belts are often HT or EHT consumers, which pushes them toward captive or open-access arrangements beyond a rooftop. Our industrial solar EPC page and solar for factories page cover the rooftop case.

How Secured Engineers helps

We are a pan-India EPC contractor that mobilises from offices in Noida (Delhi NCR) and Ludhiana. We design C&I solar in-house, and file DISCOM net-metering applications, Fire NOC and CEIG work in-house; solar, electrical and fire work can sit under one contract. Our project record includes turnkey fire fighting for the Boudh Distillery in Boudh, Odisha, delivered for a large-scale distillery with high-risk process and storage zones; we have no Odisha solar project to cite. We have 535+ projects across 18+ states and 89.77% repeat clients.

A recent bill and a roof or land drawing are enough for a first opinion on size and route. See our solar EPC page, message us on WhatsApp, call +91 70099 85817, or ask for a free proposal.