The Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) has directed that a transmission license be granted to Pachora Power Transmission to establish the Transmission System for Evacuation of Power from RE Projects in Rajgarh (1,000 MW) SEZ in Madhya Pradesh-Phase II.

Background

Pachora Power Transmission had requested a transmission license to establish a transmission system for evacuating power from renewable energy projects in the Rajgarh SEZ (1,000 MW) in Madhya Pradesh, Phase II.

In the competitive bidding conducted by REC Power Development & Consultancy (RECPDCL), GR Infraprojects emerged as the successful bidder with the lowest annual transmission charges of ₹419.74 million (~$5.03 million).

GR Infraprojects then acquired Pachora Power Transmission in February 2024

Commission’s Analysis

In a recent order, the Commission allowed Pachora Power Transmission’s petition for a transmission license.

The Central Transmission Utility of India (CTUIL) also recommended granting the petitioner a transmission license.

The Commission found that the petitioner meets the transmission license regulations.

The grant of the 25-year transmission license is subject to the following conditions:

• The licensee can apply for a two-year extension before the initial license period expires.
• The licensee must not engage in the business of trading electricity during the license period.
• Non-payment or delayed payment of the license fee exceeding 60 days will be considered a breach of the license terms.
• The licensee must comply with directions from the National Load Despatch Centre to maintain transmission system availability.
• The licensee must provide non-discriminatory open access to its transmission system to any other licensee, distribution licensee, electricity trader, generating company, or any other person, per the relevant CERC regulations.
• The licensee must not undertake any other business for optimum utilization of the transmission system without notifying the Commission and complying with the CERC (Sharing of Revenue Derived from Utilization of Transmission Assets for Other Business) Regulations, 2020.
• The licensee must comply with the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (Sharing of inter-State Transmission Charges and Losses) Regulations, 2020.

CTUIL, its appointed independent engineer, and the Central Electricity Authority will monitor the project’s execution and report any lapses by the licensee to the Commission for appropriate action.

Earlier this year, the CERC had directed the elimination of manual entries of bids and cancellation/modification of bids outside of trading hours, citing multiple violations.

Previously, it had ordered all power exchanges to redesign their bidding software to allow members to quote prices within a specified range for different types of contracts.

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