The connection permit (ATR)

The connection permit is the network operator's official technical answer to a connection request. It is not an approval in principle and it is not a commercial offer: it is the document that describes, in technical terms, exactly how a consumption or generation site can be connected to the public electricity network.

The ATR is issued on the basis of a connection solution established beforehand, through a solution sheet or a solution study. That is why the quality of the solution study largely determines the conditions that end up in the ATR — the connection point, the works required and the operating restrictions.

PowerGrid Solution does not issue connection permits. As an ANRE-attested designer, the company substantiates the solution through the solution study, supports the technical clarifications with the operator, and then uses the issued ATR as an input document for the technical design.

The ATR fixes the elements that the rest of the project treats as given. Four of them matter to any client.

A connection permit is required whenever a new link to the public electricity network is created, or an existing one is changed in its technical parameters.

An ATR is not requested directly: it is obtained at the end of the connection request. The file lodged with the network operator usually contains the client's identification data, the site plan, the urban planning certificate, the cadastral data, the requested capacity and the consumption or generation profile.

Where the solution is set through a solution study, the study — produced by an ANRE-attested designer and approved by the operator — is added to the file. The exact list of documents is confirmed by the network operator, because it differs with the type of consumption or generation site and with the voltage level.

The connection permit is issued exclusively by the network operator covering the site. A designer can neither issue it nor promise it; the designer's role is to build the technical solution that the operator then approves.

That separation is why a serious designer does not guarantee a particular permitting outcome. What can be guaranteed is the quality and completeness of the documentation presented to the operator, plus support through the technical clarifications raised during the review.

The connection permit has a validity period, and the connection contract is signed within it. The request to sign the connection contract is filed a set period ahead of the ATR's expiry date, as established by the regulation.

PowerGrid Solution does not publish that number of days here, because the deadlines differ between the variants of the process and change with the regulation. The official ANRE documents linked below carry the deadline for each step, including the one for requesting the connection contract.

The practical consequence for an investor is simple: an ATR obtained and left unused loses its purpose, and restarting means a new file. A project schedule is built starting from the ATR's validity, not the other way round.

After the ATR, the connection contract is signed with the network operator. Then come the reinforcement works upstream of the connection point, where the solution called for them, followed by the design and construction of the connection installation.

At this stage the ATR becomes an input document for the technical design: technical report, electrical diagrams, sizing calculations, drawings, installation details and bills of quantities. At the end, after acceptance and commissioning, the operator issues the connection certificate.

The three documents are frequently confused, although they belong to different moments of the process and have different issuers.