Which grid emission factor does a CCTS obligated plant use for purchased electricity?
The latest CEA average grid factor applied in the baseline year, kept fixed for every compliance year, so a plant gets no benefit from the grid getting cleaner. With a dedicated power purchase deal it uses the supplier's verified factor, or 1.19 t CO2 per MWh as default.
Purchased electricity in BEE's compliance procedure
- Use the latest average grid emission factor from CEA's CO2 Baseline Database for the Indian power sector.
- The factor applied in the baseline year applies across the compliance years. There is no normalisation for power mix, so credit comes only from the plant's own actions.
- With a dedicated power purchase agreement, use the supplier-specific factor with documents verified by an accredited agency. If none is available, use the default of 1.19 t CO2 per MWh published by CEA.
- Purchased or exported heat uses the emission factor of the steam generation fuel mix, in g CO2 per kcal.
Why it matters
Cutting grid electricity, or moving to verified renewable supply, still lowers reported intensity. A newer, lower CEA factor does not.
What Senseible does here
Senseible keeps a plant's fuel and electricity invoices as dated, fingerprinted monthly records, the activity data its monitoring plan and verifier work from.
Sources: BEE, Detailed Procedure for Compliance Mechanism under CCTS
Last reviewed 2026-10-23. Section 5.7 (vi) to (viii) of the scanned compliance procedure, read on 23 October 2026.