ERSE adopts General Conditions for Flexible Connection Agreements for Producers and Storage facilities

21/01/2025

ERSE - Energy Services Regulatory Authority approved today the General Conditions for Flexible Connection Agreements for producers or storage facilities, at a time when there has been a sharp increase in requests for connection to the grid.

The General Conditions adopted today reflect the comments received in the Public Consultation no. 122 and establish, within the scope of Flexible Connection Agreements, a standard model for the relationship between producers or storage facilities and system operators, in particular with regard to their responsibilities and obligations.

Decree-Law no. 15/2022, of 14 January, establishes the organisation and operation of the national electricity system, implementing a new legal framework that, within the scope of network access, allows a non-firm access to the Public Service Electricity Network (RESP) for producers and storage facilities, with ERSE being responsible for developing and adopting the regulatory terms of this Access, namely the allocation of non-firm capacity.

More recently, EU Directive 2024/1711 of the European Parliament and of the Council, of 13 June, establishes that in areas where electricity grids have limited or no network capacity, network users requesting grid connection should be able to benefit from establishing a non-firm, flexible connection agreement. To this end, the Directive establish that system operators should offer the possibility of establishing flexible connection agreements in such areas, thus emphasizing the importance of implementing this type of network access at European and national level.

The Flexible Connection Agreements General Conditions are also provided in the Regulation on Access to Networks and Interconnections (RARI) and are just one of the requested regulatory developments in order to be possible to establish flexible connection agreements.

The Public Consultation was attended by various stakeholders who highlighted the importance of this model of network connection, considering that these General Conditions are an essential tool for enabling the connection of new production of renewable origin and also for achieving the decarbonization of the economy and society.

Access the Public Consultation.