Access Special subscription for local production: effective coverage at a lower cost Grid users with local production facilities pay access costs adapted to their use of the Elia grid (see sheet "Objective, transparent and regulated grid access tariffs"). On top of the standard subscription, Elia also gives such users the option of taking the subscription for offtake covered by local production, here referred to as the "local production subscription" at a preferential tariff rate. When a local production unit shuts down, the power that it would have generated has to be taken from the Elia grid. The local production subscription allows grid users to cover this occasional offtake. They thus have the security that they will be able to cope with a generating unit shutdown without running up substantial costs.
I. Grid access for local production: principles I. 1. Reserved for industrial users with local production facilities The local production subscription that Elia offers is reserved exclusively for industrial grid users with local production facilities. This is the case where the injection point for the production unit is identical to the offtake point on the site of the industrial grid user. The coincidence of injection in and offtake from the Elia grid is evaluated for instance by the extent to which the load is covered by the local production unit.
I. 2. Local production: injection and offtake at a single access point Injection of locally generated power and offtake take place at the same grid access point. Accordingly, the generating unit and load must be connected to the same substation on the Elia grid and at the same contractual voltage level, irrespective of any alternative arrangements made by Elia to optimise grid development.
access point
Elia grid ~ 100 MW Load
80 MW Injection
I.3. Suited to the needs of industrial players and producers Local production subscriptions covering periods when the local production unit is shut down are ideally suited to: • industrial consumers with a local production unit which they use to cover their own power needs. It offers them inexpensive coverage during unit shutdowns, whether due to breakdown or servicing; • generating companies looking for an industrial site to set up a production unit. The mechanism therefore encourages partnerships between producers and industrial consumers and makes it easier for foreign producers seeking to gain a foothold on the Belgian market.
II. Flexible preferential tariffs through local production subscription II.1. Duration based on users’ actual needs In addition to their standard annual and monthly subscriptions, grid users can fall back on power covered by the "local production subscription". In other words, they make a special subscription (the local production subscription) covering what they expect to take from the Elia grid during local production unit shutdowns. The features of this subscription are as follows: • a maximum power exactly matching that of the local production unit and not exceeding 75 MW; • a maximum duration of 4,000 quarter-hours spread over a year. The perimeter covered by this subscription enjoys preferential grid access tariffs, 30% lower than those for standard annual subscriptions. This duration of 4,000 quarter-hours is based on the average duration of local production unit outage over one year. This estimate offers grid users a realistic stock of quarter-hours at a preferential rate for unit shutdown periods.
II.2. Threshold allowing users to tailor their subscription Under normal circumstances, it is not unusual for actual power to slightly exceed subscribed values. To prevent these occasional peaks from using up their stock of preferential quarter-hours, grid users set a power threshold: • above which the quarter-hours at preferential tariff apply; • below which power values exceeding the standard subscription are charged at the tariffs for additional power. Determined based on users’ offtake profile, the threshold ensures that their stock of preferential quarter-hours are actually used during unit outages. They thus derive maximum benefit from their stock of quarter-hours, which can be kept exclusively for periods when local generation is interrupted. In practice, this threshold is expressed in the form of a percentage of the local production subscription.
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M
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Additional power Power covered by the local production subscription Net real offtake from the Elia grid 1
Local production subscription
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Threshold: y % of local production subscription
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Annual standard subscription
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Monthly standard subscription
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M Time
4,000 quarter-hours of the local production subscription used up
II.3. Application of tariffs for additional power The tariffs for additional power are applied when: • the power actually taken off exceeds the total of the standard subscription plus the subscription for offtake covered by local production; • the quota of 4,000 quarter-hours has been used up.
III. How to benefit from this product? These preferential tariffs can be applied if there is a single access point for local production and this access point is included in an access contract with Elia. If these conditions are met, the access holder should follow the procedure described in annex 4 of the contract, i.e.: • submit his subscriptions electronically; • send his subscriptions by the deadlines stated in the access contract. Remember: the subscriptions made must not exceed the connection power of the access point.
IV. Legal and contractual basis The CREG Decree relating to the tariff methodology stipulates that the power subscription must be determined by the presence or absence of local production. It also requires Elia to support local production facilities. The preferential tariff mechanism dovetails perfectly with this aim.
• Under the local production subscription scheme, Elia offers to cover part of the power offtake of grid users with local production facilities. • With the local production subscription, grid users enjoy preferential tariffs 30% lower than standard subscription tariffs. • This system offers grid users a stopgap solution during production unit outages. • The preferential tariff applies over a duration of 4,000 quarter-hours per year and for a power level not exceeding that of the local production capacity, up to a maximum of 75 MW. • By setting an activation threshold, users can tailor their subscription to their predicted load and generating profile and (if they so desire) keep their stock of preferential quarter-hours for periods when their production unit is non-operational.
Local production subscription in 5 key points
A6-E-11.02.2012 / Non-contractual document / Editor: J. Vandermeiren, Bd de l’Empereur 20, 1000 Brussels
Furthermore, it was based on the federal Grid Code that CREG approved the standard access contract in which the concept of subscription for offtake covered by local generation, i.e. the local production subscription is defined.