Power Ministry Notifies New Amendments To Green Energy Open Access Rules
The second amendment to the Green Energy Open Access Rules 2022 has been notified by the Ministry of Power.
The newly notified rules intend to amend three provisions of the original rules, which the ministry published in June of last year. Electricity (Promoting Renewable Energy Through Green Energy Open Access) (Second Amendment) Rules, 2023 are the newly notified rules.
The Green Energy Open Access Rules 2022 allow power consumers to use renewable energy up to a maximum of 100 Kilowatt (KW) of contracted annual power demand through the open access route. Open access allows consumers who want to buy green power directly from producers to do so.
It is the ministry’s second notification of changes to the original rules. The first amendment was announced by the ministry on January 27, 2023. The most recent notification was sent on May 23, 2023. It is effective as of the date of publication, which is May 23, 2023.
The ministry has changed the definition of “entities” in the newly published rules. Except for captive consumers, the new rules stated that the entities should be in the same electricity division of the discom. It was also stated that the aggregate demand of green energy consumers could come from single or multiple connections.
“Entity means any consumer who has contracted demand or sanctioned load of 100 kW or more either through a single connection or through multiple connections aggregating 100 kW or more located in the same electricity division of a distribution licensee, except for captive consumers: Provided that in case of captive consumers, there shall not be any load limitation, the new rules said.
The new amended rules also stated that captive consumers would not be limited in the amount of green power they could purchase under open access. The ministry amended Sub Rule 2 of Rule of the original rules in the most recently notified rules to provide the benefit of green energy generated by offshore wind power projects.
According to the new rules, green energy open-access customers do not have to pay additional surcharges if the renewable energy is generated by offshore wind projects. The provisions would apply to all offshore wind projects completed by December 2032, according to the rules. It contradicts the first amendment, which was published in January of this year and waived surcharges for offshore wind projects commissioned up to 2025.