CORAM:
Shri I. S. Jha, Member
Shri Arun Goyal, Member
Shri P. K. Singh, Member

In the matter of: Approval of ‘Detailed Procedure for Connectivity and GNA’ under Regulation 39.1 of
the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (Connectivity and General Network Access to the inter State Transmission System) Regulations, 2022.

Order The Commission notified the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (Connectivity and General Network Access to the inter-State Transmission System) Regulations, 2022 (hereinafter called as ‘GNA Regulations’) on 7 th June, 2022.

CTU was also required to submit formats covered under Regulation 39.1 for information of the Commission, which CTU has furnished to the Commission vide its letter dated 30.9.2022 along with the Detailed Procedure. Even though references has been made to the formats in the Detailed Procedure , approval is accorded only to the Detailed Procedure as per Proviso to Regulation 39.1 of GNA Regulations, and the Procedure for Regulation 21 and formats have been noted for information. CTU may carry out modification of Procedure for Regulation 21 or formats as and when considered necessary after due stakeholder consultation inline with applicable regulations, with a information to this Commission.

Detailed Procedure for Connectivity and General Network Access (GNA) to the ISTS Applicability This Procedure shall inter alia apply to the processing of applications made by the applicants for Grant of Connectivity and/or General Network Access (GNA) to the Inter-State Transmission System (ISTS), received by the Central Transmission Utility (CTU)or any other actions in accordance with GNA Regulations. General Provisions for Application for Grant of Connectivity and GNA Application for grant of Connectivity and/or GNA shall be made in line with Regulation 3 of GNA Regulations. Eligibility for Connectivity to ISTS Eligibility for connectivity to ISTS shall be as per Regulation 4 of GNA Regulations.

days of submission of the tentative Technical Connection Data between the Nodal Agency and the entity which has been intimated final grant of Connectivity. On signing of the Connectivity Agreement such entity shall become the Connectivity grantee. In such case, final Technical Data shall be submitted by the entity at least one (1) year prior to physical connection with the ISTS. CTU shall scrutinize the submitted data within thirty (30) days of submission and inform regarding discrepancies (if any). Upon rectification of all discrepancies by the entity, CTU within thirty (30) days shall intimate the connection details, inter alia, details of protection equipment, system recording, SCADA and communication equipment, under Regulation 10.1 as per FORMAT-CONN-TD-4 based on the inputs provided by the connectivity grantee. The FORMAT-CONN-TD-4 shall automatically become an integral part of already signed FORMAT-CONNCA-5. Physical connection to ISTS shall be permitted only after issuance of FORMAT-CONN-TD-4.

carrying capacity of the DTL shall not be less than the capacity indicated below:

CTU in coordination with ISTS transmission licensee implementing the ISTS substation shall indicate the requirement of D/c or M/c towers near ISTS sub-station end including sharing of such towers, for optimization of space and Right of Way (RoW). The Connectivity grantee shall comply with the directions of CTU in this regard. iii. Depending on the topology and transmission system requirement, CTU may plan Loop-in Loop-out (LILO) of DTL of a Connectivity grantee without any cost implications to the Connectivity grantee whose DTL is being used for LILO, for providing the Connectivity to any generating station(s) at terminal bay of an ISTS substation already allocated to another Connectivity grantee or for some other reasons beneficial to system.

Applications: The GNA grantee that intends to authorize the use of its GNA by other GNA grantee(s) shall apply to nodal agency as per FORMAT-GNA-TRANS-APP-5 at least 45 days prior to start date of GNA transfer. Following possible transfer cases shall be allowed during transfer of GNA. Requirement of No Objection Certificate (NoC) from concerned STU as per FORMAT-GNA-TRANS-NOC has also been indicated below.

For example: Suppose in Northern Region there are 5 states who have following GNA within the region and outside the region:

The transfer may be allowed among above States such that after transfer total Sum of within the region shall be 25000 MW and outside the region shall be 9500 MW. This is subject to transmission system availability. Consent of concerned STU in form of NoC in terms of availability of transmission capacity in Intra-State transmission system for such quantum and period of transfer of GNA shall be furnished along with application when GNA grantee of one STU/state connected drawee entity intends to authorize the use of its GNA by state connected drawee entity connected to Intra-State transmission system of other STU.

Flowchart indicating processing of Connectivity application

Source:GNAProcedure