Ministry Of Power Appoints CEA To Verify Captive Status of ISTS Power Projects 

The Ministry of Power, in its latest notification, has nominated the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) as the competent authority for verifying the status of captive power generating plants involved in inter-state power transmission.

The notification said that the ministry earlier had received references on the issue from different stakeholders to decide on the authority to verify the status of captive generation plants that produce energy in one state and have captive consumers in another. 

“It has been decided with the approval of Competent Authority that Central Electricity Authority (CEA) shall be the verification authority for those Captive Generating Plant which are located in one State and its captive consumers are located in other States,” the order from the ministry dated April 11, 2023 read.

The order said that the CEA might take necessary action to verify the captive status of such generation plants supplying power to its users in another state(s) involving inter-state power flow. CEA may submit the procedure/mechanism in this regard for approval of the Ministry of Power, the ministry said. 

Earlier, the National Solar Energy Federation of India (NSEFI) had written to the ministry on October 10, 2022, claiming that many commercial and industrial segment players wanted to get into either procurement or self-generation of green power and wanted to choose the ISTS route due to its pan-India presence. But, the solar association claimed that there was a requirement for some clarity when setting these plants under captive ISTS projects. 

The association had claimed that it needed to be clarified on the institution that can verify the status of these captive plants. However, in intra-state captive projects, the NSEFI said that the state bodies (SLDCs, etc.) verified the status.