Central Transmission Utility

Transcription

1 Central Transmission Utility Grant of long Term Access from NEW Grid to Southern Region Dat e: 22 September 2014 Subje ct : Grant of Long Term Access fo r th e eligible ap plicatio ns received in t he month of No vember, 2013 for transfer of power f rom NEW grid to SR grid., 1. Pursuant to the power vested to -Central Transmission Utility under Section - 38 of the Electricity Act, 2003 and Regulation - 4 of the Central Electricity Regulato ry Commission (Grant of Connectivity, Long Term and Medium Term Open Access in Inter-State Transmission and related matters) Regulations 2009, CTU hereby inform in t he matter of grant of long term access for the transfer of power from various IPPs genera tion projects in Chhattisgarh in NEW grid to SR grid. 2. During November, 2013 CTU had received four nos. of applications totaling to 1208MW from M/s KSK Mahanadi Power Company Ltd. (KSK Mahanadi) 500MW, M/s Jindal Power - 400MW, M/s DB Power Ltd. (DB Power) - 208MW and M/s BALCO - 100MW. Prior to receipt of above applications, request from few IPPs received for allocation of LTA to SR against their earlier applica tions and LTA granted for the target beneficiaries of WR & NR. However during the meetings held in March, 2014 and May, 2014, it was advised that since in the above cases there is a change in region for the LTA quantum sought, a fresh applica tion is required as per CERC Regulations. Accordingly, only the fresh applications submitt ed in November, 2013 are being considered for allocation of LTA. 3. The presen t Available Transfer Capability (ATC) between NEW grid and SR grid has been assessed as 4000MW, which shall enhance to 4900MW subject to commissioning of iden tified transmission system lines in WR and SR. Out of the present ATC of 4000MW, the 3577MW has already been allocated to various LTA and MTOA cust omers (LTA MW, MTOA - 903MWL thereby leaving ATC of 423MW available for allocation under LTA/ MTOA. Further, as per CERC order dated 08/08/2014 and 05/09/2014 in petition no. 92/MP/2014, MTOA has been re-processed for the applications received in the month of June, 2013, und er which 208M W has been allocated to eligible applicant(s). Considering 208MW allocated to MTOA applicant(s) of June, 2013, the 'balance ATC of 215 MW ( MW) shall be available for allocation from 1 st October, 2014 onwards. In addition, ATC of 150MW was vacated by Corporate Power, making a total of Page 1 of 4

2 365MW available for allocation of LTA applicants of November, Out of the above 365 MW, 150MW ATC has already been allocated to Mis Jindal Power Limited (Jindal Power) against their application for 400 MW in the month of November, 2013 based on the decision during the meeting held on zo" March, In the meeting of constituents of SR &WR, CEA, WRPC, SPRC, POSOCO on zi" May, 2014 different aspects have been discussed with respect to the issue of grant of LTA. Few issues raised during the meeting like grant of LTA for part capacity, Inter-se priority between LTA and MTOA, when both are being processed simultaneously, quantum of compensation to be paid on account of relinquishment of LTA for the target region have been referred to CERC and in its order dated CERC have stated that these issues will be dealt in the order to be issued subsequently. However CERCI in the referred order, have confirmed that there is no stay on processing of LTA applications, accordingly CTU has decided to allocate the ATC to the eligible LTA applicants on pro-rata basis. 5. At this juncture, while processing the case for granting LTA, it was found that though the application from Mis DB Power was received in the month of November, 2013, as per the CERC regulations the requisite application fee was submitted in the month of January, Accordingly the application of DB Power to be treated as an application filed in the month of January, Accordingly, for the month of November, 2013, Mis Jindal Power, Mis KSK Mahanadi, Mis BALCO are being considered for the grant of LTA against the present available ATC as mentioned above in para Accordingly, taking cognizance of deliberations held with the different stakeholders and keeping in view the provisions of Connectivity Regulations, 2009/CTU issues the following intimation subject to conditions in para b. and c. below: a. Out of ATC of 365 MW as mentioned in para-s, 150 MW ATC has already been allocated to Jindal Power which is already under operation. As such the remaining 215 MW ( MW) are being allocated among KSK Mahanadi & BALCO on pro-rata basis as below SI. LTA Applicant LTA Sought Allocation No. (MW) (MW) i. Mis Jindal Power ii. Mis KSK Mahanadi SOD 179 iii. Mis BALCD Total Page 2 of4

3 Further, additional LTA to the above IPPs as well as other IPPs based on their priority and ATC available shall be intimated later on as and when additional transmission capacity from NEW grid to SR shall be available progressively on commissioning of identified transmission lines. b. In the event of any generator not in a position to avail this part LTA 1 the IPP shall inform CTU within 15 days of this communication. Upon receipt of such inforrnatlon, the LTA quantum shall be re-appropriated. c. The above LTA to be operationalized from 1 st October, 2014 onwards provided that the conditions stipulated below are duly fulfilled within 30 days from the date of letter through which amount of Bank Guarantee is informed: i) Payment of compensation towards relinquishment of earlier granted LTA based on the target region. Since the construction of the transmission system corresponding to the target region is still under construction, matter has been referred to CERC for directions on the procedure to be adopted for calculation of relinquishment charges. Pending CERC decision and as followed in the case of Mis Jindal Power, the applicant shall submit a Bank Guarantee corresponding to the LTA quantum indicated above. The exact amount of Bank Guarantee shall be intimated separately. ii) In addition to the Bank Guarantee, the applicant granted LTA shall also submit an undertaking on an affidavit that is the decision of CERe results in the compensation more than the amount of Bank Guarantee} LTA customer shall pay the same. In case of non-payment of such compensation. LTA granted shall be cancelled. iii) Other terms & conditions as per the CERC Regulations} 2009 and Detailed Procedure. 7. The earlier two letters of intimation dated & issued for the LTAto Mis DB Power Ltd., Mis Ind-Bharat Energy (Utkal) t.td., M/~ BALCO and MIs Jindal Power Ltd. stands null and void. It is to be stated that Ind-Barath has approached to Hon'ble Madras High Court in regard to LTA to Southern region, therefore this may undergo changes on its final outcome. Page 3 of 4

4 8. As the issues mentioned in para-4 have been referred to CERC, the LTA granted may undergo changes on its final outcome. End: Statement of Reasons. ~~ttz-~ (Y. K. Sehgal) COO(CTU) Page 4 of4

5 Central Transmission Utility In the matter of Grant of Long Term Access for the applications received for transfer of power from NEW grid to Southern Region grid for the applications received in the month of November, Statement of Reasons 1. CTU have received requests from IPPs that had earlier been granted LTA based on target region and now desirous to consider LTA with respect to firmed-up beneficiaries pursuant to signing of long term PPA with Tamil Nadu. The firmed up beneficiary with the signing of PPA in all the cases is different from the target region. For regularization of beneficiaries from target to firmed up, CTU have carried out consultation process with the CEA, constituents of SR & WR, SRPC, WRPC, POSOCO, concerned IPPs etc. The agendas for such consultation process and their minutes are duly uploaded on CTU website. These consultations also deliberated on ATC between NEW grid & SR grid as well allocation of the same to eligible LTA customers. 2. After extensive consultation, now CTU with the powers vested to it under section 38 of the Electricity Act, 2003 and Regulation 4 of the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (Grant of Connectivity, Long Term and Medium Term Open Access in Inter- State Transmission and related matters) Regulations 2009, CTU have come out with the intimation for grant of LTA to eligible LTA applicants dated for granting LTA for transfer of power from NEW grid to SR grid for the present ATC available after commissioning of Solapur-Raichur 765kV 2xS/c lines. 3. Large number of issues had been raised by stakeholder during consultation process, which have been duly considered by CTU and arrived at the decision. Each of these issues have been discussed in subsequent paragraphs detailing therein the issue involved and rationale for the stand taken up CTU. Issue 1 : Considering those applicants, who had applied for regularization of LTA through the fresh application submitted in the month of November, As per the amended Regulation 12, Provided that a generating company after firming up the beneficiaries through signing of long term Power Purchase Agreement(s) shall be required to notify the same to the nodal agency along with the copy of the PPA ; In line with the referred amended clause, four nos of IPPs viz. Ind-Barath 500 MW, Jindal Power 400 MW, DB Power 208 MW, BALCO 100 MW notified to CTU in the month of August, 2013 that they have signed long term PPA with Tamil Nadu. CTU have considered that these requests for change of beneficiaries was in continuation of earlier granted LTA based on target region, therefore, CTU had included the same as part of agenda for determining the ATC between NEW Grid and SR Grid and for grant of LTA. CTU was of the view that the Regulation 12 deals about the fresh application for LTA, and the IPP upon grant of LTA (earlier with target region) becomes an LTA customer and Page 1 of 5

6 they are no more LTA applicant. Therefore this regulation is applicable till the processing of application i.e. prior to grant of LTA. Accordingly, the requests from aforesaid mentioned applicants were covered in the agenda circulated in September, 2013 for the meeting held on 3 rd October, Based on the decision arrived at meeting the aforesaid mentioned four IPPs were issued intimation letter for grant of LTA in December, However there is another provisio in the CERC Regulations (12) which states Provided also that in cases where there is any material change in location of the applicant or change by more than 100 MW in the quantum of power to be interchanged using the inter-state transmission system or change in the region from which electricity is to be procured or to which supplied, a fresh application shall be made, which shall be considered in accordance with these regulations. 6. CTU approached Hon ble CERC for clarification on requirement of new application in case of change of region from target to firm. Response from CERC is awaited. In the meantime fresh applications were also received from the above mentioned four (4) IPPs as well as from KSK Mahanadi. Subsequently, some of the stakeholders in meeting held on 28 th March, 2014 insisted that fresh application should be taken by CTU in case of change of region. 7. The applications received in the month of Nov, 2013 were made by four applicants viz. KSK Mahanadi Power Company Ltd. (KSK Mahanadi) 500 MW, Jindal Power Ltd. (Jindal Power) 400 MW, DB Power Ltd. (DB Power) 208 MW, BALCO 100 MW. Notably, Ind-Barath who had earlier notified CTU about signing of Long term PPA in August 2013 applied in the month of December, Based on the views of the stakeholders and considering that the priority among LTA applications, as per CERC regulation 10 of relative priority, is guided on the first-cum-first serve basis with the proviso that the applications received during a month shall be construed to have arrived concurrently. CTU had decided to consider month of LTA application as the criteria for giving priority with regard to grant of LTA, the same was also informed to constituents of SR, WR & concerned IPPs during the meeting held on At this juncture, while processing the case for granting LTA, it was found that though the application from M/s DB Power was received in the month of November, 2013, as per the CERC regulations the requisite application fee was submitted in the month of January, Accordingly the application of DB Power to be treated as an application filed in the month of January, Accordingly, for the month of November, 2013, M/s Jindal Power, M/s KSK Mahanadi, M/s BALCO are being considered for the grant of LTA against the present available ATC. Issue 2 : Grant of Part capacity of LTA. 9. During the consultation process, some of the stakeholders had opined that if the ATC available in the existing/planned system is not adequate to accommodate entire capacity of all the LTA applicants under consideration, then ATC cannot be allocated on pro-rata Page 2 of 5

7 basis. In such cases, they were of the opinion that LTA to such applicants should be granted associated with additional network augmentation which may take 3-4 years for completion. 10. The provisions of Regulations (specifically regulation 9 & 12) allows grant of LTA with or without system strengthening based on the likelihood of accommodating the power flows in the existing and under construction/planned transmission system. 11. Now the question is, can LTA be granted for part capacity if cumulative transfer of power envisaged by LTA applicants with equal priority is more than the available ATC. Under such situation, should all applications be denied LTA on available ATC or CTU should arbitrary choose few of these applications whose cumulative can be accommodated within available ATC. The spirit of the Electricity Act, 2003 is to accord nondiscriminatory approach in open access. Going by the same, CTU is of the view that for a given quantum of ATC, the LTA should be granted on pro-rata basis amongst the LTA applicants with equal priority. 12. The above issue was also referred to CERC for amendment in approved procedure so as to give clarity. On advice of CERC, the draft amendment was kept on CTU website inviting comments. The comments so obtained and CTUs views was submitted to CERC. Final decision on the same is awaited. 13. Given the fact that (i) the generation projects seeking LTA have achieved COD, (ii) the ATC is available for transfer of power which shall enhance progressively, (iii) the long term PPA has been signed between these IPPs and Tamil Nadu, therefore, nonfinalisation of LTA in absence of the CERC direction shall not be appropriate. Keeping in view the non-discriminatory approach in allocation of LTA and also CERC in their order dated have confirmed that there is no stay on processing of LTA application, CTU has decided to allocate the ATC to the eligible LTA applicants on pro-rata basis. Issue 3: Inter-se priority between LTA & MTOA when both of these are under process. 14. During the consultation process, it has been pointed out by KSEBLtd. that application for MTOA made by them in October, 2013 should be given more priority compared to LTA applications received in the month of November, It has been argued that as per the regulations, the LTA and MTOA queues are to be processed separately so MTOA queue of October, 2013 gets more priority than LTA queue of November, The regulations 7, 9, 10 and 25 deals with different aspects of LTA and MTOA. Following can be inferred from the regulations a. The spirit of the regulation on open access is that the LTA has priority over MTOA. b. Regulation 10 defines that two separate queues are to be maintained for medium term and long term applications based on first-cum-first-served basis. Thus, priority Page 3 of 5

8 of Long term applications within themselves and priority of medium term applications within themselves has been defined. c. As per the regulation, the processing period for the medium term access application is 40 days and that for Long term application is 120/180 days. Thus, there may be scenario when MTOA and LTA applications received in different months are under process simultaneously. d. If two applications, one for MTOA and another for LTA are under process simultaneously, even if received during different months, the question is whether the priority be accorded to the access that is intending to use the transmission system for one to three years or to the access which intends to use the transmission system for 12 to 25 years. Going by spirit of the regulation that LTA has priority over MTOA and at the same time, both are to be processed in different queues, it is prudent that as long as MTOA is under process and LTA request is received then the LTA should have priority as it gives more certainty to the grid operation and opportunity for network utilization over longer period. 16. The above issue was also referred to CERC for amendment in approved procedure so as to give clarity. On advice of CERC, the draft amendment was kept on CTU website inviting comments. The comments so obtained and CTUs views was submitted to CERC. Final decision on the same is awaited. 17. Subject to the outcome of the CERC decision, CTU is of the view that priority is accorded to LTA applicant over MTOA applicant when both of these are under process, even if the LTA application has been received one month later i.e. in the period when MTOA application is still under process. Issue 4 :Whether long term access can be provided on LILO of existing lines. 18. As per CERC regulations, CTU has to specify the inter-state transmission system that would be required to grant long term access based on the system studies. Though in some of the initial cases Long Term Access was provided on LILO of existing lines, care was taken to avoid similar LILO later on, particularly when large quantum of power and number of generating stations are involved. However when there was a mismatch in implementation of dedicated transmission system, interim arrangement through LILO of nearby lines was provided. 19. Generally LTA on LILO of existing lines is discouraged. However in certain cases LTA on LILO may have to be allowed as a special case after ascertaining that adequate margins are available in the system for allowing LTA, particularly when part quantum of power is to be given access. 20. In the present case, KSK Mahanadi Power Company Ltd. has commissioned 2 units of 600 MW each out of total 3600MW capacity. The generation developer has been granted LTA with dedicated transmission system comprising of 2 nos. of 400 kv quad D/c line (to be implemented by Generation developer) from their switchyard to Champa Pooling Page 4 of 5

9 station (being implemented by POWERGRID) considering the full capacity of the generation project. Commissioning of Champa s/s has been delayed due to issues in acquisition of land, change in location from the earlier identified site and contractual issues. Anticipating the delay in commissioning of Champa s/s, KSK was provided connectivity through 2 nos of LILO lines to two circuits of Raipur-Raigarh 400 kv line. Both these LILOs are in operation. In view of unavailability of Champa Pooling station, studies have been carried out to examine adequacy of transmission system for transfer of 900 MW of power(400 MW MTOA & 500 MW LTA) through the existing system wherein it has been seen that power upto 900 MW can be evacuated over 4 nos of 400 kv lines. These studies have been carried out considering the status of other IPPs in the vicinity and their status of LTA and MTOA. 21. Therefore CTU is of the view that LTA to KSK should be provided on LILO of 2 ckts of Raipur-Raigarh 400 kv line as a special case, particularly when KSK has declared COD of its generation project and also have long term PPA. The case of providing LTA on LILO arrangement shall not be considered as a precedence. However, KSK need to commission their dedicated line upto Champa pooling station matching with the commissioning schedule of Champa pooling station, otherwise the LTA granted to KSK would be discontinued x x x Page 5 of 5