CEA Has Notified The Central Electricity Authority (Technical Standards For Construction Of Electrical Plants And Electric Lines) Amendment Regulations, 2026

The Central Electricity Authority (“CEA”), through notification dated 22.06.2026, has issued the Central Electricity Authority (Technical Standards for Construction of Electrical Plants and Electric Lines) Amendment Regulations, 2026 (“Amendment Regulations”)¹, thereby amending the CEA (Technical Standards for Construction of Electrical Plants and Electric Lines) Regulations, 2022 (“Principal Regulations”). The amendment inserts a new Chapter VI prescribing, dedicated construction standards for solar, floating solar, onshore wind, offshore wind, and Battery Energy Storage System (“BESS”) installations. The key highlights of the amendments are as follows:

The common requirements for Renewable Energy Power Plants (“REP”) and BESS include equipment rating norms, mandatory site documentation, display boards, WMO-compliant automatic weather stations (for plants of 10 MW and above), phasor measurement units, harmonic analysers, power plant controllers, redundant communication systems, power quality meters, graded protection systems, voltage ride-through capability, and compliance with the National Building Code and applicable noise limits.

The dedicated construction standards under Chapter VI provides as follows:

I. Solar (Part A): Prescribes a minimum design life of 25 years, site-selection criteria, and technical specifications for PV modules, mounting structures, inverters (minimum efficiency of 98%) and associated equipment, including mandatory RFID tagging of modules.

II. Floating solar (Part A1): Imposes additional siting, floater (buoyancy, tensile strength, wind-tunnel, and puncture testing), mooring/anchoring, cable routing, and wildlife/vessel-collision safety requirements, over and above Part A.

III. Onshore wind (Part B): Lays down turbine spacing and infrastructure clearance norms, mandates a minimum 500-metre setback from dwelling clusters for noise mitigation, and prescribes technical standards for blades, nacelle, generator, converter, and tower.

IV. Offshore wind (Part B1): In line with the National Offshore Wind Energy Policy, 2015, a minimum blade-tip clearance of 22 metres shall be maintained above mean high water spring, and detailed construction norms for foundations, cabling, and offshore substations.

V. BESS (Part C): Recognises multiple use-cases (renewable integration, firm power, arbitrage, congestion relief, black-start, etc.); mandates active/reactive power control, voltage control, frequency response and ride-through for all BESS, with systems of 50 MW and above additionally requiring AGC, grid-forming inverter and black start capability; fixing minimum technical benchmarks.(/p

The Amendment Regulations shall come into force from 01.04.2027.

Footnote

1. CEA (Technical Standards for Construction of Electrical Plants and Electric Lines) Amendment Regulations, 2026.

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