The Ministry of Power vide its notification dated 10th August 2021 has notified the provisions for grant of transmission licenses by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) as well as State Electricity Regulatory Commissions (SERCs)
The Ministry had earlier notified the Guidelines for Encouraging Competition in Development of Transmission Projects” and Tariff Based Competitive Bidding Guidelines for Transmission Services”. These guidelines aim at laying down a transparent procedure for facilitating competition in the transmission sector through wide participation in providing transmission services and tariff determination through a process of tariff-based competitive bidding.
As per the National Electricity Policy, The Transmission System requires adequate and timely investments and also efficient and coordinated action to develop a robust and integrated power system for the country.
In order to facilitate the smooth and rapid development of transmission capacity in the country as envisaged in the National Electricity Policy, inter State /intra State transmission projects, other than those exempted by the Central Government, shall be implemented through tariff based competitive bidding.
According to the National Electricity Policy “the Central Transmission Utility (CTU) and State Transmission Utility (STU) have the key responsibility of network planning and development based on the National Electricity Plan in coordination with all concerned agencies as provided in the Act.
The Network plan will be reviewed and updated as and when required but not later than once a year. The Network Plan would include the projects for new lines and substations, strengthening and up-gradation of the existing lines and interregional transmission lines.
The Network Plan will clearly identify the scope of the project, broad parameters such as design specifications including Voltage level, line configuration i.e S/C or D/C, functional specifications of conductor etc., length of transmission line and probable location of substation or converter station of HVDC transmission lines.
