Amendment status not verified — confirm the current text below against the official source.
(1) Definitions,-In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires, (a) "Act" means the Electricity Act, 2003 (Central Act 36 of 2003); (b) "Application"means a request for connectivity of Renewable Energy System to the State transmission and/or distribution grid, as the case may be and, as per the application form duly filled in all respect, as required by the distribution licensee, along with the copy of the receipt as proof of payment of necessary charges and accompanied by all necessary documents including copies of approvals from statutory or other authorities; (c) "Application form" means the application form complete in all respects in the appropriate format by the distribution licensee, before the payment of applicable charges; (d) "Auxiliary energy consumption" or "AUX" in relation to a period in case of a generating station means the quantum of energy consumed by auxiliary equipment of the generating station and transformer losses within the generating station, expressed as a percentage of the sum of gross energy generated at the generator terminals of each unit of the generating station; [(da) "Average Power Purchase Cost " or "APPC" during a year means the weighted average cost of the power purchased by KSEB Ltd including the cost of self-generation by KSEB Ltd, for the previous financial year as approved by the Commission. Note: This will be applicable for the whole State, as long as uniform retail tariff for consumers exists in the State] (e) "Banking facility"means such facility whereby the prosumer or the captive generator of Renewable Energy System injects energy into the grid during a time block or period and have a right to draw back the energy from the grid at a subsequent different time block or period, subject to the terms and conditions specified in these Regulations; (f) "Beneficiary" with respect to these Regulations means a licensee who has an agreement with a Renewable Energy Generator for purchase of power from the plant at the tariff approved by the Commission; (g)"Billing period" means the period as approved by the Commission for which electricity bills are regularly prepared by the licensee for different categories of consumers; (h) "Capital cost" means the capital cost as defined in the Regulations under Chapter V; (i) "Captive consumer" means a consumer owning and consuming electricity generated from a captive generating plant including from the captive renewable energy sources or captive co-generation, as the case may be; (j)"Captive Generating Plant" means a power plant including the renewable energy plant or co-generation plant, set up by any person to generate electricity primarily for his own use and includes a power plant set up by any co-operative society or association of persons for generating electricity primarily for use of its members and as specified in Electricity Rules, 2005 published by the Government of India and amended from time to time; (k) "Central Agency" means the agency operating the National Load Dispatch Centre or such other agency as the Central Commission may designate from time to time for the purpose of implementation of the scheme relating to issuance of renewable energy certificate and performance of other duties as assigned under the provisions of the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (Terms and Conditions for Recognition and Issuance of Renewable Energy Certificate for Renewable Energy Generation) Regulations, 2010, as amended from time to time; (i) "Central Commission" means the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission referred to in sub-section (1) of Section 76 of the Electricity Act, 2003; (m) "Certificate" means the Renewable Energy Certificate issued by the Central Agency in accordance with the procedures approved under the provisions of the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (Terms and Conditions for Recognition and Issuance of Renewable Energy Certificate for Renewable Energy Generation) Regulations, 2010, as amended from time to time; (n)"Co-generation" means a process which simultaneously produces two or more forms of useful energy (including electricity); (o) "Commission"means the Kerala State Electricity Regulatory Commission; (p) "Conduct of Business Regulations" means the Kerala State Electricity Regulatory Commission (Conduct of Business) Regulations, 2003 as amended from time to time; (q) "Connected load" expressed in kW or kVA means aggregate of the rated capacities of all energy consuming devices or apparatus which can be simultaneously used, excluding stand-by load if any, in the premises of the consumer, which are connected to the service line of the distribution licensee; (r) "Connection agreement"means an agreement between State Transmission Utility (STU), and / or distribution licensee and an eligible entity, for connecting the renewable energy system to the intra-state transmission system and / or distribution system, as per the provisions of the KSERC (Connectivity and Intra-state Open Access) Regulations, 2013; (s) "Consumer"means any person who is supplied with electricity for his own use by a licensee or the Government or by any other person engaged in the business of supplying electricity to the public under Electricity Act, 2003 or any other law for the time being in force and includes any person whose premises is, for the time being, connected for the purpose of receiving electricity with the works of a distribution licensee, the Government or such other person, as the case may be; (t) "Contract Demand or Contracted Demand" means the maximum demand in kW or kVA, agreed to be supplied by the distribution licensee and indicated in the agreement executed between such licensee and the consumer; or the contracted load or contract demand duly revised thereafter; (u) "Control Period" or"Review Period" means the period during which the norms for determination of tariff for renewable energy specified under these Regulations shall remain valid; (v) "Eligible consumer" means a consumer getting supply of electricity from the distribution licensee in its area of supply, who intends to use a grid connected Renewable Energy system installed in his premises to offset a part of or all of the consumer's own electrical energy requirements as per the provisions of these Regulations; (w) "Energy and Power". "Energy" is the ability to do work, where as the "Power" is the rate of doing work. In SI units, the unit of Power is 'watt', 'kilo watt' or 'Mega watt'and the Energy is measured as 'kilowatt hour (kWh)'; [(wa) 'Energy Storage Systems' or 'ESS' means the technology that store energy generated from various sources and can be drawn upon at a later time to perform useful operation when needed, contributing to a more reliable and efficient power supply; (wb) 'Energy Storage Obligation' or 'ESO' means the obligation of the entity to store the energy from RE sources, which shall be calculated in terms as a percentage of total consumption of electricity and shall be treated as fulfilled only when at least 85% of the total energy stored in ESS is procured from renewable energy sources, on annual basis;] (x) 'Financial Year' means the period beginning from first of April in a Gregorian calendar year and ending on the thirty first of March of the next calendar year; (y) 'Forbearance Price' means the ceiling price for the Certificate for each category of renewable energy, as determined by the Central Commission in accordance with the REC Regulations, within which only, the certificate can be dealt in the power exchange; (z) 'Generic tariff'means the tariff determined in these Regulations for the electricity generated from the Renewable Energy Plants as per the norms and parameters specified in these Regulations; (aa) 'Grid Interactive Renewable Energy System' means a Renewable Energy System which is connected to the transmission or distribution system of the licensee, and is capable of injecting energy into such system; (ab) 'Grid Support Charges' means the charges to be paid by the prosumers, captive consumers and other users, but excludes consumers availing net metering facility having 'Grid Interactive Renewable Energy Systems', for facilitating energy injection into the transmission system and/or distribution system irrespective of their connected load or contract demand; (ac) 'Gross calorific value' or 'GCV' in relation to a fuel used in a generating station means the heat produced in kCal by complete combustion of one kilogram of solid fuel or one litre of liquid fuel or one standard cubic meter of gaseous fuel, as the case may be; [(aca) "Gross-Metering " means a mechanism whereby the total renewable energy generated from Grid Interactive Renewable Energy Systems and fed into the grid by a consumer/prosumer vis-a-vis the total energy consumed by such consumer/ prosumer is separately accounted for at their applicable tariff as determined by the Commission]. (ad) 'Gross station heat rate' or 'SHR'means the heat energy input in kCal required to generate one kWh of electrical energy at the generator terminals of a thermal generating station; (ae) 'Hybrid Solar Power Plant' means the solar powerplant that uses other forms of energy input sources along with solar energy for electricity generation; [(aea) 'Hydro Power Obligation' or 'HPO' means the obligation of an entity to purchase electricity generated from Hydro Power Projects (HPPs) including Pumped Storage Projects and Small Hydro Projects which has come into commercial operation after 08/03/2019;] (af) 'Infirm' means the power injected by a generation project into the grid before the Date of Commercial Operation (COD), for testing, trial run & commissioning of the project. Since power from renewable energy sources is non firm in nature, the tariff fixed by the Commission post COD shall also be applicable for the power injected into the licensee system prior to CoD, subject to the condition that the RE generator enters into an agreement with the licensee to supply power from the RE plant at the tariff determined by the Commission. Provided that, if energy injected into the system by the RE generator prior to CoD without identifying a buyer or if there is no agreement with the licensee regarding the sale of power, SLDC shall settle the transactions at the Deviation Settlement Rates. (ag) 'Installed capacity' or 'IC' means the summation of the name platecapacities of all the units of the generating station or the capacity of the generating station (reckoned at the generator terminals), approved by the Commission from time to time; (ah) 'I nter-connection Point'shall mean interface point of renewable energy generating facility with the transmission system or distribution system, as the case may be: (i) the interface of the renewable energy system with the outgoing terminals of the meter/distribution licensee's cut-outs/ switch gear fixed in the premises of the prosumer. (ii) In relation to wind energy projects and solar photovoltaic Projects, inter-connection point shall be line isolator on outgoing feeder on High Voltage side of the pooling substation; (iii) In relation to small hydro power, biomass power and non fossil fuel based cogeneration power projects and solar thermal Power Projects the inter-connection point shall be line isolator on outgoing feeder on HV side of generator transformer; (ai) 'Invoice' means either a bill or a supplementary bill or an invoice or a supplementary invoice raised by the distribution licensee relating to the billing cycle or billing period; (aj) 'kW' means kiloWatt; (ak) 'Licensee' means a person who has been granted license under Section 14 of the Act and includes a person deemed to be a licensee under Section 14 of the Act; (al) 'MNRE' means the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy of the Government of India; (am) 'Municipal solid waste' or 'MSW' means and includes commercial and residential waste generated in municipal or notified areas in either solid or semi-solid form excluding industrial hazardous wastes but including treated bio-medical waste; [(ama) 'Net-Billing or Net feed-in' means a single bidirectional energy meter used for net-billing or net feed-in at the point of supply wherein the energy imported from the Grid and energy exported from Grid Interactive rooftop Solar photovoltaic system of a Prosumer are valued at two different tariffs, where; (i) the monetary value of the imported energy is based on the applicable retail tariff; (ii) the monetary value of the exported solar energy is based on feed-in tariff determined by the Commission; (iii) the difference between monetary value of the exported energy and the monetary value of the imported energy shall be used to arrive at the net amount to be billed (or credited/carried-over).] (an) 'Net meter' means the bi-directional meter, along with allied metering equipment, to be installed and maintained by the licensee, for reading the net import or export of electrical energy by the prosumer from/ to the distribution system and the corresponding import/export of power from/to the distribution system, and shall be an integral part of the net metering system; (ao) "Net metering" means an arrangement under which renewable energy system installed at the premise of the prosumer receives or delivers electricity, if any, to the distribution licensee, after off-setting the electricity supplied by distribution licensee during the applicable billing period; (ap) 'Non fossil fuel based co-generation' means the process in which more than one form of energy (such as steam and electricity) are produced in a sequential manner by use of biomass, provided the project may qualify to be a co-generation project if it fulfills the eligibility criteria as specified in these Regulations; (aq) 'Non-firm power' means the power generated from renewable sources, the hourly variation of which is dependent upon nature's phenomenon like sun, cloud, wind, etc., that cannot be accurately predicted; (ar) 'Non-solar Certificate'means the certificate issued in respect of the electricity generated from renewable sources of energy other than solar source; (as) 'Normal Hours or Normal Period' means the period from 06.00 hours to 18.00 hours on the same day; (at) 'Obligated Entity' means the distribution licensee or the captive consumer or the open access consumer in the State of Kerala, who is mandated to fulfill renewable purchase obligation under these Regulations; [(ata) "Ocean Energy " means the energy produced using various forms of ocean energy sources such as tidal, wave, ocean thermal energy etc] (au) 'Off-peak Hours or Off Peak Period' means the period from 22.00 hours to 06.00 hours on the next day; (av) 'Open Access' means the non-discriminatory provision for the use of transmission lines or distribution system or associated facilities with such lines or system by any licensee or consumer or a person engaged in generation in accordance with the Regulations specified by the Appropriate Commission; (aw) 'Operation and maintenance expenses' or 'O&M expenses' means the expenditure incurred on operation and maintenance of the renewable energy system or part thereof, and includes the expenditure on manpower, repairs, spares, consumables, insurance and overheads; [(awa) 'Other RPO'means the obligation of the entity to purchase electricity generated from RE power projects other than; Wind Power Projects accounted for WPO and Hydro Power Projects [including PSPs and Small Hydro Projects (SHPs)] accounted for HPO;] (ax) 'Peak Hours' means the period from 18:00 hours to 22:00 hours on the same day; (ay) 'Power Exchange' means any licensed entity operating as an exchange for transaction of electricity in terms of the orders issued by the Central Commission; (az) 'Preferential Tariff' or 'Feed in Tariff' means the tariff determined by the Commission for purchase of energy from a generating station using renewable energy sources by a distribution licensee; (ba) 'Premises' includes any land, building, structure or roof top or part or combination thereof; which is included in the details and sketches specified in the application or in the agreement for grant of electric connection or in such other records relating to revision of connected load or contract demand; (bb) 'Project' means a generating station and the evacuation system up to inter-connection point, as the case may be, and in case of a small hydro generating station, includes all components of generating facility such as dam, intake water conductor system, power generating station and generating units of the scheme as apportioned to power generation till the Date of Commercial Operation (COD) and shall be known as 'Station' after the declaration of COD; (bc) 'Prosumer' means a captive consumer, having a renewable energy system installed at the same premise of the consumer who generates and consumes the electricity generated from such renewable energy system and who can also inject the surplus power from the renewable energy system into the grid using the same network; [(bca) 'Pumped Storage Projects' or 'PSP' means a hydro power project which generates power through water stored as potential energy, pumped from a lower elevation reservoir to a higher elevation reservoir, either during lean seasons when storage/inflow into the upstream reservoir is inadequate or on a round the year basis in cases where catchment area is small or nil, by having a reservoir at the downstream with adequate capacity to store water for pumping;] (bd) 'REC Regulations'means the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (Terms and Conditions for Recognition and Issuance of Renewable Energy Certificate for Renewable Energy Generation) Regulations, 2010, as amended from time to time; (be) 'Renewable Energy' means the electricity generated from any renewable sources of energy; (bf) 'Renewable Energy Meter' refers to a unidirectional energy meter, installed and used solely to record the renewable energy generation from renewable energy system installed at the consumer's premises; [(bg) 'Renewable Energy System' means the power plant and connected systems, generating grid quality electricity from renewable energy sources;] (bh) 'Renewable Purchase Obligation' or RPO means the obligation of an entity to purchase electricity generated from a renewable source of energy as per these Regulations; [(bi) 'Renewable Source of Energy' means the energy source for the generation of electricity from renewable energy sources such as small hydro, large hydro with capacity above 25 MW, wind, solar including its integration with combined cycle, biomass, bio fuel cogeneration, urban or municipal solid waste and such other energy sources approved by the MNRE as renewable energy source;] (bj) 'Seller Licensee' means a distribution licensee which sells electricity to other licensees; [(bk) "Settlement Period " for the purposes of these Regulations 'is the period from the first day of April in a Gregorian calendar year to the thirty first day of March in the next calendar year;] (bl) 'Small Hydro' means Hydro Power projects with a station capacity upto and including 25 MW; (bm) 'Solar Certificate' means the certificate issued in respect of electricity generated from solar source; (bn) 'Solar Meter' means a unidirectional energy meter installed as an integral part of the net metering system, at the point at which the electricity generated by the solar energy system is delivered to the main panel of the prosumer; (bo) 'Solar PV power' means the Solar Photo Voltaic power project that uses sunlight for direct conversion into electricity through Photo Voltaic technology; (bp) 'State Agency' means the agency in the State of Kerala designated by the Commission to act as the agency for accrediting and recommending the renewable energy system for registration and for undertaking the functions assigned by the Commission under these Regulations; (bq) 'Supply Code' means the 'Kerala Electricity Supply Code, 2014', as amended from time to time; (br) 'Tariff Order' in respect of a licensee means the order issued from time to time by the Commission, stipulating the rates to be charged by the licensee from various categories of consumers for supply of electrical energy and for other services; (bs) 'Tariff Period' means the period for which the tariff is determined by the Commission on the basis of the norms specified under these Regulations, for the sale of electricity from a renewable energy system. The Tariff period under these Regulations shall be determine with the useful life as defined in Regulation 2.1(bu) (bt) 'Time block'means the period/duration in a day specified for the purposes of these Regulations. (bu) 'Useful Life' in relation to a unit of a generating station including evacuation system shall mean the following duration from the date of commercial operation (COD) of such generation facility, namely:- (a) Wind energy power project 25 years (b) Bio mass power project with Rankine cycle technology 20 years (c) Non-fossil fuel cogeneration project 20 years (d) Small Hydro Electric Plant 35 years (e) Municipal Solid Waste (MSW)/and Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) based Power project 20 years (f) Solar PV/Solar thermal power project 25 years (2) Interpretations,-- (a) These Regulations shall be interpreted and implemented in accordance with, and not at variance from, the provisions of the Act and the Rules and Regulations made thereunder. (b) Words, terms and expressions as defined in the Electricity Act, 2003 and in the Rules made thereunder by the Central Government, -Government of Kerala, Regulations issued by the Central Electricity Authority, the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission and the Commission which are used in these Regulations shall have and carry the same meanings as defined and assigned to them in the said Act, Rules and Regulations, unless it has been defined in this Regulation. (c) In the interpretation of these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires:- (i) Words in the singular or plural term, as the case may be, shall also be deemed to include the plural or the singular term, respectively; (ii) Reference to any Statute, Rule, Regulation or Guideline shall be construed as including all statutory provisions consolidating, amending or replacing such Statute, Rule, Regulation or Guideline referred to, as the case may be; (iii) terms "include" and "including" shall be deemed to be followed by" without limitation" or "but not limited to", regardless of whether such terms are followed by such phrases or words of like import. ["(bv) 'Wind Power Obligations'or 'WPO'means the obligation of the entity to purchase electricity generated from Wind Power Projects (WPPs) commissioned after 31st March, 2022;] Inserted by K.G. Ex.No.2381.dt.18/07/2022(w.e.f.01/08/2022) Inserted by K.G. Ex.No.2381.dt.18/07/2022(w.e.f.01/08/2022) Substituted by No. 230/Con.Engg./2023/KSERC., Published in K.G.Ext. No. 2661 dt. 16/08/2024 (w.e.f. 01/04/2024). Prior to the Substitution it read as "(aea) "Hydro Power Obligation" or "HPO" means the obligation of an entity to purchase electricity generated from Large Hydropower Projects (LHPs) including pumped storage projects having capacity of more than 25 MW which has come into commercial operation on or after 08/03/2019 as renewable energy source" Inserted by K.G. Ex.No.2381.dt.18/07/2022(w.e.f.01/08/2022) Revised by K.G. Ex.No.2381.dt.18/07/2022(w.e.f.01/08/2022).Prior to substitution to be read as: "'Settlement Period' means, the periods for the purpose of accounting of electricity from the following categories of renewable sources,-- (i) from solar sources, the period from the first day of October in a Gregorian calendar year to the thirtieth day of September in the next calendar year; and (ii) from non-solar sources, the period from the first day of April in a Gregorian calendar year to the thirty first day of March in the next calendar year;" Inserted by No. 230/Con.Engg./2023/KSERC., Published in K.G.Ext. No. 2661 dt. 16/08/2024 (w.e.f. 01/04/2024). Inserted by No. 230/Con.Engg./2023/KSERC., Published in K.G.Ext. No. 2661 dt. 16/08/2024 (w.e.f. 01/04/2024). Inserted by No. 230/Con.Engg./2023/KSERC., Published in K.G.Ext. No. 2661 dt. 16/08/2024 (w.e.f. 01/04/2024). Inserted by No. 230/Con.Engg./2023/KSERC., Published in K.G.Ext. No. 2661 dt. 16/08/2024 (w.e.f. 01/04/2024). Substituted by No. 230/Con.Engg./2023/KSERC., Published in K.G.Ext. No. 2661 dt. 16/08/2024 (w.e.f. 01/04/2024). Prior to the Substitution it read as " (bg) 'Renewable Energy System' means the power plant and connected systems other than the conventional power plant, generating grid quality electricity from renewable energy sources;"