The Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) on June 07, 2022 has issued the Draft Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (Indian Electricity Grid Code) Regulations, 2022. These rules shall be applicable to all users, State Load Despatch Centres, Regional Load Despatch Centres, National Load Despatch Centre, Central Transmission Utility, State Transmission Utilities, licensees, Regional Power Committees and Power Exchanges to the extent applicable.
The foremost provisions of the regulations are as followed:
• GENERAL (RESOURCE PLANNING CODE)
(1) This chapter covers the integrated resource planning including demand forecasting, generation resource adequacy planning and transmission resource adequacy assessment, required for secure grid operation.
(2) The planning of generation and transmission resources shall be for reliably meeting the projected demand in compliance with specified reliability standards for serving the load with optimum generation mix with a focus on integration of environmentally benign technologies after taking into account the need, inter alia, for flexible resources, storage systems for energy shift and demand response measures for managing the intermittency and variability of renewable energy sources.
• GENERAL (CONNECTION CODE)
(1) This chapter covers the technical and design criteria for connectivity, procedure and requirements for physical connection and integration of grid elements.
(2) The connectivity to the ISTS shall be granted by CTU in accordance with the GNA Regulations.
(3) Users seeking to get connected to the ISTS for the first time through new or modified power system element shall fulfil the requirements and follow the procedures specified under this Code prior to obtaining the permission of the NLDC or RLDC or SLDC, as the case may be.. Transmission licensees including deemed transmission licensees or cross-border entities shall comply with the technical requirements specified under this Connection Code prior to being allowed by NLDC or RLDC or SLDC to energize a new or modified power system element.
(4) After grant of connectivity and prior to the trial run for declaration of commercial operation, the tests as specified under this Code shall be performed.
• COMPLIANCE WITH EXISTING RULES AND REGULATIONS
(1) All Users connected to or seeking connection to the grid shall comply with all the applicable regulations as enacted or amended from time to time, such as:
(a) Central Electricity Authority (Technical Standards for Connectivity to the Grid) Regulations, 2007;
(b) Central Electricity Authority (Technical Standards for Construction of Electrical Plants and Electric Lines) Regulations, 2010; (c) Central Electricity Authority (Measures Relating to Safety & Electric Supply) Regulations, 2010;
(d) Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (Communication System for Inter- State Transmission of Electricity) Regulations,2017;
(e) Central Electricity Authority (Installation and Operation of Meters) Regulations, 2006;
(f) Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (Connectivity and General Network Access to the inter-State Transmission System) Regulations, 2022;
(g) Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (Fees and Charges for Regional Load Despatch Centres) Regulations, 2019;
(h) Central Electricity Authority (Technical Standards for Communication System in Power System Operation) Regulations, 2020;
(i) Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (Furnishing of Technical Details by the Generating Companies) Regulations, 2009.
(j) Any other regulations and standards as specified from time to time.
• CONNECTIVITY AGREEMENT
(1) In case of users seeking connectivity to the ISTS under GNA Regulations, Connectivity Agreement shall be signed between such users and the CTU.
(2) In case of an inter-State transmission licensee, Connectivity Agreement shall be signed between such licensee and CTU after the award of the project and before physical connection to ISTS.
• SYSTEM PROTECTION SCHEME (SPS)
(1) SPS for identified system shall have redundancies in measurement of input signals and communication paths involved upto the last mile to ensure security and dependability.
(2) For the operational SPS, RPCs shall perform regular dynamic studies and mock testing for reviewing SPS parameters & functions, at least once in a year.
(3) The users and SLDCs shall report about the operation of SPS within three days of operation to the concerned RPC and RLDC in the format specified by the respective RPCs.
• DOCUMENTS AND TEST REPORTS PRIOR TO DECLARATION OF COMMERCIAL OPERATION
(1) Notwithstanding the requirements in other standards, codes and contracts, for ensuring grid security, the tests as specified in the following clauses shall be scheduled and carried out in coordination with NLDC and the concerned RLDC by the generating company or the transmission licensee, as the case may be, and relevant reports and other documents as specified shall be submitted to NLDC and the concerned RLDC before a certificate of successful trial run is issued to such generating company or the transmission licensee, as the case may be.
(2) Documents and Tests Required for Thermal (coal/lignite) Generating Stations:
(a) The generating company shall submit OEM documents for (i) performance characteristic curve for boiler, turbine and generator, (ii) starting time of unit in cold,
warm and hot conditions, (iii) design ramp rate; (b) The following tests shall be performed:
(i) Operation at a control load of fifty (50) percent of MCR as per the CEA Technical Standards for Construction for a sustained period of four (4) hours.
(ii) Ramp-up from fifty (50) percent of MCR to MCR at a ramp rate of at least one
(1) percent of MCR per minute and sustained operation at MCR for one (1) hour.
(iii) Demonstrate overload capability with valve wide open as per the CEA Technical Standards for Construction and sustained operation at that level for at least five (5) minutes.
(iv) Ramp-down from MCR to fifty (50) percent of MCR at a ramp rate of at least one (1) percent of MCR per minute.
(v) Primary response through injecting a frequency test signal with a step change of ± 0.1 Hz at 60%, 75% and 100% load.
(vi) Reactive power capability as per the generator capability curve as provided by OEM considering over-excitation and under-excitation limiter settings.
(3) Documents and Tests Required for Hydro Generating Stations:
(a) The generating company shall submit OEM documents for turbine characteristics
curve indicating the operating zone(s) and forbidden zone(s). In order to demonstrate operating flexibility of the generating unit, it shall be operated below and above the forbidden zone(s).
(b) The following tests shall be performed considering the water availability and head:
(i) Primary response through injecting a frequency test signal with a step change of ± 0.1 Hz for various loadings within the operating zone.
(ii) Reactive power capability as per the generator capability curve considering over-excitation and under-excitation limiter settings.
(iii) Black start capability.
(iv) Operation in synchronous condenser mode wherever designed.
(4) Documents and Test Required for Gas Turbine based Generating Stations:
(a) The generating company shall submit OEM documents for (i) starting time of unit in cold, warm and hot conditions (ii) design ramp rate. (b) The following tests shall be performed:
Primary response through injecting a frequency test signal with a step change of ± 0.1 Hz for various loadings within the operating zone.
(ii) Reactive power capability as per the generator capability curve considering over-excitation and under-excitation limiter settings.
(iii) Black start capability up to 100 MW capacity wherever designed.
(iv) Operation in synchronous condenser mode wherever designed.
(5) Documents and Tests Required for the Generating Stations based on wind and solar resources:
(a) The generating company shall submit certificate confirming compliance to CEA Technical Standards for Connectivity.
(b) The following tests shall be performed:
(i) Frequency response of machines as per the CEA Technical Standards for Connectivity.
(ii) Reactive power capability as per OEM rating at the available irradiance or the wind energy, as the case may be.
(iii) Grid-forming capability, wherever provided, in inverter based units that may be used as black start resource.
(6) Documents and Tests Required for Energy Storage Systems:
(a) The ESS shall submit certificate confirming compliance to the CEA Technical Standards for Connectivity.
(b) The following tests shall be performed:
(i) Power output capability in MW and energy output capacity in MWh. (ii) Frequency response of ESS.
(iii) Ramping capability as per design.
(7) Documents and Tests Required for HVDC Transmission System:
(a) The transmission licensee shall submit technical details including operating guidelines such as filter bank requirements at various operating loads and monopolar/ or bipolar configuration, reactive power controller, power demand overrides, run-back features, frequency controller, reduced voltage mode of operation and power oscillation damping.
(b) The following tests shall be performed: (i) Minimum load operation.
(ii) Ramp rate.
(iii) Overload capability.
(iv) Black start capability in case of Voltage source convertor (VSC) HVDC. Documents and Tests Required for SVC/STATCOM
(a) The transmission licensee shall submit technical particulars including operating guidelines such as number of blocks and rating of each block, single line diagram, V/I characteristics, rating of coupling transformer, MSR/MSC design parameters, different operating modes, IEEE standard Model, Power Oscillation Damping (POD) enabled and tuned (if not then reasons for same) and the results of Offline simulation-based study to validate the performance of POD.
(b) The following tests shall be performed to validate full reactive power capability of SVC and STATCOM in both the directions i.e. absorption as well as injection mode:
(i) POD performance test.
(ii) dynamic performance testing.
• ASSESSMENT OF COMPLIANCES
The performance of all users, CTU, STUs, NLDC, RLDCs, SLDCs and RPCs with respect to compliance of these regulations shall be assessed periodically.
• MONITORING OF COMPLIANCE
(1) In order to ensure compliance, two methodologies shall be followed: (a) Self-Audit
(b) Compliance Audit
(2) Self –Audit:
(a) All users, CTU, STUs, NLDC, RLDCs, RPCs and SLDCs shall conduct annual self-audits to review compliance of these regulations and submit the reports by 31st July of every year.
(b) The self-audit report shall inter alia contain the following information with respect to non-compliance:
(i) Sufficient information to understand how and why the non-compliance occurred;
(ii) Extent of damage caused by such non-compliance; (iii) Steps and timeline planned to rectify the same; (iv) Steps taken to mitigate any future recurrence;
(c) The self-audit reports by users shall be submitted to the concerned RLDC or SLDC, as the case may be.
(d) The self-audit reports of NLDC, RLDCs, CTU, and RPCs shall be submitted to the Commission. The self-audit report of SLDC and STUs shall be submitted to the concerned SERC.
(e) The deficiencies shall be rectified in a time bound manner within a reasonable time.
(f) The monitoring agency for users shall be the concerned RLDC or SLDC on the basis of their respective control area. The monitoring agency shall track the progress of compliances of users, and exceptional reporting for non-compliance shall be submitted to the appropriate Commission.
(g) The monitoring agency for RLDC, NLDC, CTU and RPC shall be the Commission, and for STUs and SLDCs, shall be the concerned SERC.
(h) The Regional Power Committee (RPC) in the region shall also continuously monitor the instances of non-compliance of the provisions of these regulations and endeavor to sort out all operational issues and deliberate on the ways in which such cases of non-compliance shall be prevented in future by building consensus. The Member Secretary of respective RPCs may also report any unresolved issues to the Commission.
(i) The Commission may initiate appropriate proceedings upon receipt of report under sub-clauses (f) and (h) above.
(j) In case of non-compliance of any provisions of these regulations by NLDC, RLDCs, SLDCs, RPCs and any other person, the matter may be reported by any person to the Commission through filing of a petition.
(3) Independent Third-Party Compliance Audit:
The Commission may order independent third-party compliance audit for any user, CTU, NLDC, RLDC and RPC as deemed necessary based on the facts brought to the knowledge of the Commission.
The comments/ suggestions/ objections may be sent to the undersigned on or before 31.8.2022 at the email addresses, [email protected] and [email protected]. For registered users, the comments/ suggestions/ objections shall also be uploaded through SAUDAMINI Portal by clicking e- Regulation link on the e-filing Home Page. For any query on uploading on SAUDAMINI Portal, e-Court Helpdesk at 011-23353503 Extension 260 or 7042604928 may be contacted.
The comments/ suggestions/ objections received after the stipulated date in the Commission’s office may not be considered while finalizing these regulations.
[Notification No. L-1/265/2022/CERC]
