Revision of the connection contract

Context

The connection contract was first revised in 2020 and the proposal for revision was submitted for public consultation in the autumn of 2020. This revision was developed in parallel with amendments to the Federal Grid Code regarding the implementation of the capacity remuneration mechanism (CRM) that were submitted to the FPS Economy. The articles of the connection contract that initially were consulted, were extensively discussed with market parties within the framework of the Working Group Belgian Grid. The explanatory note, the consultation report and the reactions received from market players are available on the Elia website.

Given that the proposed changes to the Federal Grid Code have not been retained and that the CRM operating rules have been modified accordingly (see also publication on the CREG website), the initial proposal to revise the connection contract needs to be brought into line with the current regulatory framework.
This is why Elia has retained certain amendments to the connection contract that already have been consulted. No new elements or principles have been added to the connection contract compared with the connection contract consulted in the autumn of 2020. A full overview of the retained amendments can be found in the explanatory note.  

Now that the CRM operating rules have been approved and published by CREG, Elia founds it appropriate to resubmit the adapted proposal for the connection contract for public consultation.

This revision of the connection contract is limited to the adjustments necessary for the implementation of the CRM. An in-depth review of the connection contract will be launched by the end of 2021.

Period

Elia invites all stakeholders to submit any comments and suggestions they may have on the document submitted for consultation. The consultation period runs from 18 May to 31 May 2021.

After the consultation period, Elia collects all comments and feedback from the market parties. Elia will analyse these comments and integrate them into a consultation report together with the answers given by Elia. In addition to the consultation report, Elia will publish the reactions of the market parties (including names) on the website, unless it is explicitly mentioned that the contribution is to be considered confidential. 

Afterwards the connection contract will be submitted for approval to the competent regulators.