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Mahesh

02/11/22 04:50 AM IST

Wind sector in India needs an overhaul

In News 
  • Globally, India has the fourth-highest installed capacity to generate wind energy.
  • However, the potential is higher and can be accelerated with changes to the bidding system and policies.
Major Facts
  • The country’s total installed capacity was 41.67 GW as on September 30, 2022.
  • The Indian government set a target for 175 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy capacity by 2022.
  • The goal included achieving 60 GW of onshore and 5 GW of offshore capacity for wind energy.
  • According to estimates by the National Institute of Wind Energy (NIWE) and the World Bank Group- The country has the potential for more than 602 GW of onshore wind energy at 120-metre hub height and 100 GW of fixed and floating offshore.
  • The state of Gujarat has the highest Wind Energy potential, followed by Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh.
  • Two types of Wind energy: Onshore wind farms (located on land) and Offshore wind farms ( located in bodies of water).
Challenges 
  • With 37.5 GW of onshore wind power installed at the end of 2019, India may fall short of its 2022 targets due to pricing, payment risk mitigation, transmission capacity and land use challenges.
  • Current bidding is based on tariffs derived from the site plant load factor (PLF).
  • PLF: Plant load factor (PLF) is the ratio of average power generated by the plant to the maximum power that could have been generated in a given time.
  • Gujarat and Tamil Nadu are the highest PLF states and to realise better tariffs, most projects are being planned in these states only (60 per cent in Gujarat and 30 per cent in TN).
  • Apart from the concentration of projects that create severe pressure on land, the creation of infrastructure for power evacuation leads to a choking situation, as seen in Gujarat.
  • In spite of the availability of land and infrastructure in other states, investors do not prefer Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Maharashtra as the proposed projects cannot compete with projects in Gujarat and Tamil Nadu due to PLF and economic constraints.
Feed-in Tariff 
  • A feed-in tariff is an energy policy focused on supporting the development and dissemination of renewable power generation.
  • A reverse auction is a type of auction in which the traditional roles of buyer and seller are reversed. Thus, there is one buyer and many potential sellers.
Wind Energy 
  • Wind energy is the kinetic energy associated with the movement of atmospheric air.
  • Wind turbines transform the energy in the wind into mechanical power, further converting it to electric power to generate electricity.
Measures taken 
  • Technical support including wind resource assessment and identification of potential sites through the National Institute of Wind Energy, Chennai.
  • In order to facilitate the inter-state sale of wind power, the inter-state transmission charges and losses have been waived off for wind and solar projects to be commissioned by March 2022.
  • Issued Guidelines for Tariff-Based Competitive Bidding Process for Procurement of Power from Grid Connected Wind Power Projects.
  • National Wind-Solar Hybrid Policy (2018)- To provide a framework for the promotion of large grid-connected wind-solar PV hybrid systems.
  • National Offshore Wind Energy Policy (2015)- To develop offshore wind energy in the Indian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) along the Indian coastline.
Source- DTE 

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