The Central Electricity Authority (CEA) has notified the CEA (Technical Standards for Construction of Electrical Plants and Electric Lines) Regulations, 2026.
The amendments insert a new chapter covering technical standards for solar, floating solar, onshore wind, offshore wind and battery energy storage systems (BESS), while also introducing fresh definitions for BESS components and operating parameters such as state of charge, state of health, c-rate and cycle. Among the key provisions, renewable energy plants above 10 MW will be required to install automatic weather stations, while plants will also need power plant controllers, segregated communication systems, power quality meters, ride through capability and reactive power control modes in line with grid connectivity norms. For BESS, the regulations specify use cases ranging from renewable integration and congestion relief to black start support, and require systems of 50 MW and above to have additional capabilities such as automatic generation control, grid forming inverter capability and black start capability. The notification also prescribes minimum BESS performance benchmarks, including 90 per cent output at the end of five years, 80 per cent at 10 years, 70 per cent at 15 years, minimum depth of discharge of 80 per cent, and round-trip efficiency of at least 70 per cent.