The Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission (HERC) has issued Green Energy Open Access Regulations, 2023, which allows consumers in Haryana with a contracted demand or sanctioned load of at least 100 kW to be eligible for Green Energy Open Access without any limit on the power supply for captive consumers. To be eligible for Green Energy Open Access, consumers must have the necessary infrastructure for time-block-wise energy metering and accounting installed at their premises and must commit to a minimum of twelve time blocks of 15-minute intervals per day. Group of two or more consumers connected to the distribution system of a licensee at 11 kV or above may also be entitled to seek open access. However, consumers who have outstanding dues for more than two months, have a case of unauthorized use of electricity/theft of electricity pending against them, or have been declared insolvent or bankrupt are not eligible for open access.
Consumers seeking Green Energy Open Access must restrict the sum of their total drawal from open access and the distribution licensee up to the total sanctioned contract demand. They are also subject to charges levied, which include transmission charges, wheeling charges, cross-subsidy surcharge, standby charges wherever applicable, banking charges, application fees/SLDC fees/charges, scheduling charges, deviation settlement charges, and reactive energy charges. Green energy open access consumers purchasing green energy from renewable sources will have a fixed surcharge for twelve years from the generating plant’s operating date. Cross-subsidy surcharges will not apply to non-fossil fuel waste-to-energy plant consumers or green energy production of green hydrogen and ammonia.
The regulations allow RE-based captive generating plants to bank power up to their contract demand for captive/own use by paying banking charges and transmission and distribution losses. The banked power must be used within the same billing cycle and cannot be carried forward to the next cycle. The quantum of banked energy by Green Energy Open Access consumers cannot exceed 30% of their total monthly consumption from the distribution licensee. A drawal of banked power is not allowed during peak load hours.
Distribution licensees must issue green certificates to consumers yearly if they request green energy supplied beyond their renewable purchase obligation. The State Load Dispatch Center (SLDC) Haryana will be the State Nodal Agency for granting green energy open access for short-term periods of up to a month, while the State Transmission Utility (STU) will be the nodal agency for medium-term and long-term periods. All applications for connectivity and green energy open access must be submitted through the single window green energy open access system for renewable energy developed by the Central Nodal Agency at the STU headquarters.
View the official document here:
