The Chhattisgarh State Electricity Regulatory Commission (CSERC) has issued amendments to its CSERC (Grid Interactive Distributed Renewable Energy Sources) Regulations, 2019, for distributed solar power projects.

The regulations will come into force from the date of publication in the Chhattisgarh gazette.

As per the proposed amendments, cross-subsidy surcharges and state load dispatch center (SLDC) charges are exempted for the entire life of the projects for the first 500 MW of open access solar projects. The amendment would apply to the first 500 MW capacity that achieved or would achieve commercial operation within two years from the notification of the regulations.

In an earlier amendment, the Commission allowed the exemption of cross-subsidy surcharges and transmission and wheeling charges for the first 300 MW of open access solar projects.

Another proposed amendment states that the transmission and wheeling charges would not be applicable for the entire useful life of solar projects. Earlier, the transmission and wheeling charges were applicable at 8%.

The Commission also proposed that the interconnection of the renewable energy system with the licensee’s network should be as per the CEA (Technical Standards for Connectivity of the Distributed Generation Resources) Regulations, 2013.

It said all solar power projects must be awarded must-run status, and banking facilities made available for the useful life of the projects. It allowed banking of 100% of energy injected for all captive and open access consumption during the year. The banking year would be from April to March. Banking charges will be levied at 2% of the banked energy instead of the earlier rate of 5%.

The state regulator stated that banked energy units drawn during a normal period (5 AM to 6 PM) and off-peak load period (11 PM to 5 AM) are exempted from any withdrawal charges. Banked energy during the peak load period (6 PM to 11 PM) would attract peak withdrawal charges of 30% of energy redeemed during peak load hours.

The Commission retained the maximum size of the distributed renewable energy system to be set up under the net metering arrangement at 500 kW. However, the maximum size of a remotely located distributed renewable energy system to be set up under this arrangement has been increased to two and half times the contracted demand or the desired open access capacity.

Earlier, the maximum size of the distributed energy system to be set up under the arrangement was set at twice the approved load and thrice the desired open access capacity.

Subscribe to Mercom’s real-time Regulatory Updates to ensure you don’t miss any critical updates from the renewable industry.