The Central Electricity Regulatory Commission on 20th July 2022, published the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (Connectivity and General Network Access to the inter-State Transmission System) Regulations, 2022. Under this regulation following entities shall be eligible as Applicants to apply for grant of Connectivity or for enhancement of the quantum of Connectivity:
- Generating station(s), including REGS(s), with or without Energy Storage System (ESS), with an installed capacity of 50 MW and above individually or with an aggregate installed capacity of 50 MW and above through a Lead Generator or a Lead ESS;
- Captive generating plant with capacity for injection to ISTS of 50 MW and above;
- Standalone ESS with an installed capacity of 50 MW and above individually or with an aggregate installed capacity of 50 MW and above through a Lead ESS or Lead Generator;
- Renewable Power Park Developer;
- REGS or standalone ESS with an installed capacity of 5 MW and above applying for grant of Connectivity to ISTS through the electrical system of a generating station already having Connectivity to ISTS:
Provided that such an entity applying for grant of Connectivity to inter-State transmission system (ISTS) has an agreement with the said generating station to share its electrical system and dedicated transmission lines, if any.
Applications for grant of Connectivity or grant of General Network Access (GNA), as the case may be, shall be made online to the Nodal Agency and shall be digitally signed by the Applicant. Each application for grant of Connectivity shall be accompanied by an application fee of Rs.5 lakh along with applicable taxes.
Provided that no application fee shall be payable by the State Transmission Utilities while applying for GNA
On receipt of applications for grant of Connectivity, the Nodal Agency shall carry out interconnection study as specified in the CEA Technical Standards for Connectivity along with requirement of augmentation to the existing ISTS , if any, for enabling transfer of power over ISTS under General Network Access:
Provided that the existing ISTS for the purpose of this Regulation shall include transmission system which has been awarded for implementation, as on the last day of the month in which application for grant of Connectivity complete in all respects, has been received:
Provided further that if any additional transmission system gets awarded for implementation before completion of interconnection study, such additional transmission system shall also be considered as existing ISTS.
