The Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) has released draft regulations to strengthen the framework for ancillary services to maintain the state’s grid.

These regulations are driven by an increasing renewable energy penetration, rising demand, and diverse grid integration challenges.

KERC has invited stakeholders’ objections, suggestions, and views on the proposed draft within 30 days.

The regulations apply to intra-state entities, including entities with energy storage resources and entities capable of providing demand response and qualified to provide ancillary services.

The regulations will be applicable from the date of their publication in the official gazette.

The nodal agency will estimate the quantum of the secondary reserve ancillary service (SRAS) requirement at the state level. It will access the quantum of the requirement of SRAS a day before and incremental requirements on a real-time basis and update it on its website.

Eligibility and Selection of SRAS Provider

• The provider must have a bi-directional communication system with the state load dispatch centre (SLDC).
• The communication system should be automatic generation control (AGC)-enabled and provide a minimum response of 1 MW.
• Metering and supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) telemetry must be enabled to monitor and measure energy delivered under SRAS.
• The communication system must respond to the SRAS signal within 30 seconds, provide the entire SRAS capacity within 15 minutes, and sustain it for 30 minutes.

Dispatch and Payment for SRAS

SRAS signal will be allocated among the SRAS providers to meet the system requirement based on the merit order of variable or compensation charges.

The SRAS providers must increase or decrease active power injection or increase or decrease drawal or consumption, per the automatic signal from the nodal agency.

The secondary control signal for SRAS-Up and SRAS-Down will be sent to the control center of the SRAS providers every four seconds.

SRAS providers will be paid from the state deviation settlement mechanism account (SDSMA) at the rate of their energy charge or compensation charge for the SRAS-Up MW quantum despatched for every 15-minute time block.

SRAS providers must pay the SDSMA back, at the rate of their energy or compensation charge, for the SRAS-Down MW quantum despatched for every 15-minute time block.

The nodal agency will monitor the actual response of the SRAS providers against the secondary control signals. All measurements of secondary control signals from the nodal agency to the SRAS provider’s control center and the actual response of the provider will be carried out on a post-facto basis using SCADA data.

Performance below 20% for two consecutive days by an SRAS provider will make them liable for disqualification for participation in SRAS for a week by the nodal agency.

Emergency conditions

All generating stations whose tariff is determined by the Commission are deemed available for use by the nodal agency subject to any technical constraints.

If the nodal agency requires any generating station to provide ancillary services to meet the emergency conditions for reasons of grid security per the provisions of the Grid Code, such generating station will be compensated at the energy charge rate specified by the Commission.

Accounting for SRAS will be done by the nodal agency every week based on the interface meter data.

No retrospective settlement of energy or compensation charges can be undertaken. No transmission, losses, or deviation charges will be payable for SRAS.

The nodal agency must submit the detailed procedure through an application and a gist of the application before the Commission for approval within three months of these regulations. On admitting the application, the Commission will ask the nodal agency to publish the gist of the application within seven working days.

The detailed procedure shall contain SRAS’ operational aspects, including bi-directional communication system, metering, and SCADA telemetry.

In April 2024, the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission expanded the scope of operation of the Reserve Regulation Ancillary Services Regulations, 2015, to facilitate the availability of adequate power reserves with the system operator to manage the peak demand.

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