The Central Electricity Authority (CEA) has issued draft amendment-II to the Manual on Transmission Planning Criteria, 2023.
The draft introduces operational and planning criteria for 1,150 kV transmission systems, including specified voltage limits, fault clearance timelines and revised N-1 contingency norms. It also classifies data centres as critical loads, requiring 100 per cent redundancy and dual supply sources wherever feasible. Further, the amendment proposes revised transformation capacity standards and standard bus reactor sizes for 1,150 kV substations. In addition, it introduces generic dynamic modelling frameworks for voltage source converter-based high voltage direct current systems, wind farms, solar parks, battery energy storage systems, static synchronous compensators and grid-forming inverters. Further, revised seasonal and regional load factors as well as renewable energy capacity factors have also been proposed.