CERC appointed committee suggests overhaul in transmission planning

October 12, 2016

The Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) appointed committee has submitted its recommendations. It was headed by power system expert Mata Prasad.
The committee has suggested an overhaul in transmission planning to facilitate transfer of power on economic principles.
Key Recommendations

Transmission planning: It must be aligned to meet customer aspirations as opposed to existing system where transmission is associated with long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs).
It can should be done basis of projected load of states and anticipated generation scenario based on economic principles of merit order operation.
Renewable energy sources transmission system: To be planned by central transmission utility (CTU) based on estimated capacity additions in perspective plan and renewable purchase obligations of each state.
Promote of power market: Transmission corridor allocation must be done suitably made. 5% of each flow gate may be reserved for day-ahead collective transactions.
This flow gate may be released for contingency market in case of non-utilisation of corridor by power exchanges. The percentage of reservation may be reviewed after 1 year of operation.
System studies: They must be carried out for various generation and load scenarios during peak and off-peak hours. It should also consider renewable capacity addition and scheduling of various generating stations that don’t have any PPAs.
Creation of a central repository of generators: It should be created in the Central Electricity Authority of India (CEA).In this case any generation project developer proposing to set up a new generation plant must register itself.
For accurate demand forecasting: Hand-holding of states by CEA and CTU for accurate demand forecasting. States must procure software for short-term, medium-term and long-term demand forecasting.