Whether you are developing or acquiring a decentralized power generation project, you must ensure that its electrical design complies with the technical requirements established by regulations and approved by energy regulators.
Equally important is optimizing connection lead times and costs—critical variables for both operational control and financial valuation of your project. To achieve this, you should anticipate the reference connection solutions that will be priced by transmission system operators (RTE) or distribution system operators (Enedis, GEREDIS, etc.) in their connection studies or technical and financial proposals.
What is a connection solution to electricity networks?
Your power generation project, whether structured in one or several production units:
① remains your responsibility (ownership and operation) up to the delivery point
② which marks the boundary of ownership
③ and the interface between the internal installation and the connection link
④ The connection link ties your project to the source infrastructure
⑤ of the distribution or transmission grid: it is dedicated to your plant, financed by you, but owned and operated exclusively by the network operator.
A connection solution includes both the connection link and the source infrastructure. The network operator specifies, in its studies and connection offers (PTF, connection agreement), the technical and economic conditions of this solution:
Connection timelines primarily depend on the administrative procedures governing the construction of transmission or distribution infrastructure, which the network operator must carry out in parallel with the connection process (technical and financial proposal, connection agreement, operating agreement, etc.).
These timelines end with commissioning, which, for some renewable energy projects, coincides with the start of the feed-in tariff contract.
Connection costs, quoted by the network operator, cover the construction of the connection link but exclude internal electrical equipment. All such costs are borne by the project developer, although ownership and operation of the connection link remain with the network operator as of the delivery point.
These connection costs are separate from network access charges, which are payable once the plant is connected and in operation.
Negotiating with network operators
In principle, a project connects to the locally competent network at the voltage level consistent with its power. Typically, it connects directly to the nearest substation at the higher voltage level.
In practice, however, the operator may consider alternative solutions that are faster or more cost-effective. The reference connection solution is the optimal option.
While the operator is obliged, under its territorial monopoly, to propose the most efficient solution in terms of cost and timing, the project developer retains the right to choose. Connection therefore involves a negotiation process.
To support this, regulations provide certain options: pooling costs between two projects with developers’ agreement, requiring detailed justification of costs and timelines, choosing to connect to a neighboring network if it offers better terms, opting for transmission instead of distribution, establishing direct lines to the transmission grid, or indirect connections upstream of shared infrastructure.
Our Services
Identify the most suitable networks for connection based on your project’s technical specifications, legal structure, and location
Analyze the feasibility and benefits of regulatory provisions
Anticipate the connection solutions operators are likely to propose—or that you can suggest—to optimize costs and timelines
Estimate available connection capacity and layout of the connection link
Provide comparative assessments of cost and timeframe across alternative solutions
Case study: Due diligence on technical connection conditions
Objectives
Studying the technical conditions for connecting a conventional or renewable plant to the transmission or distribution grid complements technical due diligence.
This analysis verifies whether the connection is optimized from a technical and electrical perspective (line losses to the delivery point, acceptable unavailability and curtailment rates, etc.), and more broadly whether the internal installation is compatible with the grid connection link.
Specifically, it aims to:
identify inconsistencies between plant design/operations and the grid connection infrastructure
validate the technical specifications of the connection
quantify uncertainties and risks affecting plant output
recommend realistic assumptions for the financial model
propose, prioritize, and justify conditional terms or improvements
For projects in development: phased approach
For projects under development, the analysis supplements standard documentation (connection studies, technical and financial proposals) with a forward-looking review of the forthcoming connection agreement, operating contract, and network access contract, in light of current regulation.