The Bihar Electricity Regulatory Commission (BERC) has issued the Green Energy Open Access Regulations, 2024, to promote the generation, purchase, and consumption of green energy, including energy from waste-to-energy projects.

The minimum limit of open access transactions has been reduced from 1 MW to 100 kW to enable even small consumers to purchase renewable power.

Consumers will be eligible to demand the supply of green energy from distribution companies (DISCOMs), which will be obligated to procure and supply green power.

The existing consumers/generators will continue to have open access per the existing agreements or government policies for the specified period.

Renewable Purchase Obligations

All obligated areas of a distribution licensee will be imposed with a uniform renewable purchase (RPO) obligation.

Even non-obligated entities may choose to generate, purchase, and consume renewable energy through captive generation or by procuring renewable energy through open access from any developers, directly or through a trading licensee or power markets.

Consumers can place requisitions separately for solar and non-solar power. The Commission will determine the tariff for green energy. Any requisition of power will last for at least one year.

In case of a power shortage with DISCOMS, they must meet the requisition within six months. The green energy requirements must be requisitioned at least one month in advance.

Green energy procurement for RPO can be met through consuming green energy from captive power projects, purchasing renewable energy certificates, and procuring green hydrogen or green ammonia.

Functions of SLDC

The State Load Distribution Centre (SLDC) will be the nodal agency for GEOA for the first month, and the State Transmission Utility (STU) will be the nodal agency for the medium and long-term periods.

The open access must be allowed for a minimum twelve-time blocks of 15-minute intervals during the day. The consumer must not change the quantum of power consumed through open access.

Provided that open access is allowed to such consumers, it must be subject to the condition that they agree to the system constraints and power cut restrictions imposed by the STU/SLDC. In such cases, under drawal, if any, on account of power cut restrictions/ system constraints must not be compensated.

There will be no limit on the quantum of power supply for the captive consumers procuring power under GEOA.

GEOA Charges

GEOA charges will comprise transmission, wheeling, standby, and banking charges, cross-subsidy, and additional surcharges. They also include application fees /SLDC fees and scheduling charges, deviation settlement mechanism (DSM) charges, and reactive energy charges.

Cross-Subsidy Surcharge

The cross-subsidy surcharge must not exceed 20% of the average cost of supply applicable to consumers seeking GEOA. The Commission will determine a lower surcharge during shortages and load shedding by the distribution licensee.

It will also not be levied on consumers if they are already availing of green power from a captive generation project. The cross-subsidy surcharge must not be increased by more than 50% for 12 years from the operational date of the project.

It must also not apply to consumers procuring power from non-fossil fuel-based waste-to-energy projects or green hydrogen and ammonia.

The cross-subsidy surcharge for GEOA must be computed in ₹/kWh. It must be charged based on the actual energy consumed by the consumer.

Standby Charges

The standby charges for GEOA for such a standby arrangement must be 125% of the energy charges applicable to the consumer tariff.

Standby charges must be in addition to the applicable tariff on standby energy supplied by the distribution licensee to the GEOA consumer.

The standby charges must not be applicable if the GEOA Consumers have given notice, at least a day in advance, before gate closure in the day-ahead market (DAM) on ‘D-1’ day, ‘D’ being the day of delivery of power, for standby arrangement to the distribution licensee.

GEOA consumers will also have the option to arrange standby power from any other source.

Banking Facility Charges

After setoff, surplus energy from a generating station must be banked with the distribution licensee.

The banking charges must be adjusted at a certain percentage of the energy delivered at the point of the transaction as specified below:

• From November to March, drawal of banked energy available during any time slot (peak period/off-peak period/normal period) will be allowed during any of the time slot (peak Time, off-peak Time of Day (TOD), and standard period) with banking charges of 8% of the energy banked.
• From April to October, drawal of banked energy available during off-peak time-of-day (TOD) and standard TOD period must be permitted by paying banking charges of 8% of the energy banked.
• From April to October, drawal of banked energy during peak TOD period/slot will not be permitted.

The permitted extent of banked energy by the GEOA consumers must be at least 30% of the total monthly electricity consumption from the distribution licensee during the banking cycle.

To calculate the permissible extent of banked energy, only the energy directly procured from the distribution licensee must be considered. Electricity obtained through open access arrangements, either from a third-party supplier or via captive generation utilizing the distribution network, will be excluded from this calculation.

The credit for banked energy must not be permitted to be carried forward to subsequent banking cycles. It must be adjusted during the same banking cycle in the manner specified under these regulations.

The unutilized surplus banked energy must be considered as lapsed at the end of each banking cycle, and the renewable energy generating station must be entitled to get a Renewable Energy Certificate to the extent of the lapsed banked energy.

Other charges

GEOA consumers will be liable to pay a scheduling charge of ₹2000(~$23.607)/ day/approval for short-term open access, and in the case of long-term open access and medium-term open access, the same must be as per the tariff order of the Commission for the respective year.

Consumers must pay deviation charges per the deviation settlement charges governed by the Bihar Electricity Regulatory Commission (Intra-state Availability Based Tariff and Deviation Settlement Mechanism) Regulations, 2020.

In respect of the green energy generator, the payment for the reactive energy charges must be by provisions stipulated in the Electricity Grid Code notified by the Commission.

Special Energy Meters

Meters with a TOD facility will be installed by the GEOA generators/consumers.  The meters must be capable of time-differentiated measurements (15 minutes).

Energy losses of the transmission and distribution system will apply as specified by the Commission from time to time.

In September, BERC allowed South Bihar Power Distribution Company and North Bihar Power Distribution Company to carry forward their RPO shortfalls from fiscal years 2022-23 and 2023-24 to 2024-25.

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