India: Wind Energy Capacity to Cross 60-GW Target, Ahead of 2022 Deadline

The Indian Wind Turbine Manufacturers Association (IWTMA) has announced that the wind industry is poised to meet the Government’s target of 60-GW ahead of the 2022 deadline.

The industry has regained momentum and there is a clear business visibility of 10-12 GW even before the start of this financial year with announcement and plan of bids by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE).

“In FY18, the wind industry witnessed a transition from the Feed-in-Tariff (FiT) to the competitive bidding regime, hence there was a temporary drop in volumes. The industry is now on a growth trajectory with a healthy order pipeline, owing to auctions by Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) I, II, III, IV (6,050-MW) and state level bids in Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Maharashtra (1,500-MW),” Mr. Tulsi Tanti, Chairman, IWTMA, said in a statement.

“At the current rate, the wind industry is on course to add 30-GW of new capacity in the next three years, thereby taking the cumulative total capacity to over 60-GW by FY21,” he said.

Over 100-GW of renewable energy projects will be under implementation by fiscal-end

The government estimates that over 100-GW of renewable energy projects will be under various stages of implementation before the current financial year ends.

“We have closed financial year 2017-2018 with 68-GW of installed renewable power generation capacity. The government will bid out 10-GW wind power projects, 30-GW solar power projects in 2018-19,” Mr. Anand Kumar, Secretary, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy said, while speaking at the launch of the Thirty Second Edition of the TERI Energy and Environment Data Diary and Yearbook (TEDDY 2016-17).

“We will be coming up with a policy for solar-wind hybrid projects soon. They make sense as the evacuation infrastructure is already in place. The first bids for setting up offshore wind projects in Tuticorin will come this calendar year. We expect to have 10-GW of installed off-shore wind power generation by 2022,” he added.