The Central Electricity Authority (CEA) has issued a draft amendment to technical standard regulations that apply to generation resources like rooftop solar and charging stations that are seeking to connect to the grid in 2018 and have a voltage below 33 kV in an effort to maintain grid stability.

The regulations will come into force on the date of their publication in the Official Gazette.

The regulations will apply to every generating company or prosumer that owns distributed generation resources or charging stations. It includes those who are connected to or seeking a connection with the electricity system that have a voltage level that is less than 33 kV.

CEA has regulated that in cases where the licensee who owns the electricity system also owns distributed generation resources, charging stations, and prosumers, then the regulations will be applicable by making the necessary changes.

Under the new regulations, an applicant is considered “a generating company, charging station, prosumer or a person seeking connectivity to the electricity system at voltage level below 33 kV, whereas a user means a charging station, prosumer or a person who is connected to the electricity system. A generating company whose distributed generation resource is connected to the electricity system is also considered a user.”

Key Highlights

• Each applicant will provide a reliable protection system to detect various faults/abnormal conditions and provide an appropriate means to isolate the faulty equipment or system automatically.
• Each applicant will also ensure that any fault of his equipment or system would not adversely impact the grid.
• The licensee must carry out an adequacy and stability study of the network before it is permitted to connect with its electricity system.
• The limits on the injection of current harmonics at the point of common coupling (PCC) by the user, a method of harmonic measurement and other matters, will be in accordance with the latest IEEE 519-2014 standards.
• The prosumer will not inject a direct current greater than 0.5 percent of rated output at the interconnection point.
• Applicants that are seeking connectivity at 11 kV or above must install power quality meters and share their data as and when required by the licensee. Users connected at 11 kV or above will comply with this provision within 12 months of notification of the regulations.
• The applicant will get a capacity of 500 kW generating units and above, and a registered transmission system or distribution system can also get a unique registration number that is generated online.
• No applicant will be granted connectivity with the grid without a unique registration number after the registration program is implemented.

In its order, the CEA also mentioned that it plans to notify applicants about the implementation of the registration program soon.