Armenian authorities to permit installation of charging stations for  electric vehicles in parking lots and at retail outlets

ArmInfo.  Members of the ruling Civil Contract faction in parliament propose to regulate legal relations related to the installation of charging stations for  electric vehicles (in particular, not to consider this type of  activity subject to licensing). The legislator also introduces new  rules for autonomous electricity producers. The draft laws received a positive  conclusion from the parliamentary commission on economic issues on  September 2.

The rapporteur and co-author of the project, the head of the NA  Standing Committee on Financial and Budgetary Affairs Tsovinar  Vardanyan noted that in recent years the number of electric vehicles  in Armenia has increased significantly, which is why it is necessary  to ensure legal transparency of relations related to their charging,  as well as to simplify this process.

"Charging of electric vehicles is not an activity subject to  regulation and licensing in the energy sector. Individuals have the  right to provide this service in accordance with other relevant  legislative acts. The current Law does not have a clear  provision on this issue," she noted

In this regard, in practice, especially for residents of apartment  buildings, difficulties arise with charging electric vehicles. In  particular, in order for citizens to be able to charge their car in  their parking lot, they must contact the electricity distribution  service provider - ESA to connect the consumption system of this  parking lot to the power grid, and then conclude an electricity  supply agreement, becoming a separate subscriber for this point of  consumption. "This is an expensive and labor-intensive process, the  need for which is often simply absent, since the capacity of the  consumption systems of citizens' apartments already connected to the  network is usually sufficient both to supply the apartment with  electricity and to charge the electric vehicle," explained Tsovinar  Vardanyan.

The proposed regulation will create for the consumer (subject to  compliance with safety measures and exclusively for personal use) a  clear opportunity to consume the electricity supplied to him also in  his parking lot located outside the coverage area of the consumer's  consumption system and in the adjacent territory, the deputy added.  To do this, he will not need to conclude an electricity supply  agreement with the ESA, becoming a separate subscriber for this point  of consumption.

A similar opportunity is also provided to an economic entity (if the  existing possibilities of its connection to the network allow it) to  install a charging station, for example, in the courtyard of its  store, and provide the corresponding services without licensing this  type of activity.

The next proposed change, Vardanyan explained, will create an  opportunity for autonomous electricity producers to participate in  the competitive electricity market on equal terms with other entities  with the same status, stimulating competition in the electricity  market and expanding the circle of trade participants in its  competitive sector.

Thus, the current Law On Energy establishes the right of an  autonomous electricity producer to become a participant in the  electricity market by refusing this status. In this case, by virtue  of the law, it receives the status of a micro-producer of  electricity.  At the same time, the installed capacity of the power  plant of a micro-producer of electricity is limited to 150 kW, and  electricity production at a plant with an installed capacity  exceeding this capacity is subject to licensing.

However, due to previously existing regulations, there are currently  autonomous electricity producers with a capacity of up to 500 kW,  which, due to the above-mentioned limitation on the capacity of the  micro-producer of electricity station, are effectively deprived of  the opportunity to participate in the wholesale market in the  specified way. A situation arises when one of the producers with the  same status, but operating installations of different capacities, can  automatically, having renounced its status, become a participant in  the wholesale market, while the other, in order to participate in  this market, must obtain a license for the production of electricity  in accordance with current legislation, subsequently bearing all the  obligations provided for persons holding a license. In connection  with, it is proposed to edit the relevant articles of the law,  establishing the following: a micro- producer of electricity is a  person producing electricity at a power plant with an installed  capacity of up to 150 kW, and before May 1, 2022 - at an autonomous  power plant with an installed capacity from 150 kW to 500 kW.