Wind power generation capacity in India has significantly increased in recent years. As of June 2018 the total installed wind power capacity was 34.293 GW, the fourth largest installed wind power capacity in the world. Wind power capacity is mainly spread across the South, West and North regions. According to National Institute of Wind Energy’s ‘Wind Atlas’, the wind energy potential in the country at 100 m AGL is over 302 GW.

 Success of the wind energy sector in the past:

• India’s wind energy industry has had a lustrous past.
• It developed on the back of incentives (accelerated depreciation and generation based incentives).
• It was bolstered by very comfortable feed in tariffs (FiT) to increase competition and reduce the prices of wind energy.

        Wind energy sector despite its success is facing challenges. The diminishing role of wind energy in India’s power mix is due to

• The lack of auctioning regime before 2016 for tariff determination led to a cost-complacent market, especially in light of the success solar energy had achieved. Installations stalled, falling from 5.4 GW in 2017 to 1.7GW in 2018, and less than 1 GW is expected in 2019.
• The State of Renewable Energy in India report pre-empts that the financial issues faced by distribution companies (DISCOMs) will pose a significant threat too. Widely prevalent in the wind-rich state of Tamil Nadu, these issues include payment delays, curtailment and PPA defaults.
• The failure of the UDAY scheme, introduced to ease the financial stress on the DISCOMs, has further added to the concerns. With increasing concentration of wind installations in just a few states, these DISCOM issues are bound to intensify.
• Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI), too, is stuck in a Catch22 situation where it is pressured into releasing large tenders for wind energy, with no clarity on what DISCOMs will buy.
• MNRE’s offshore wind policy, solar PV-wind hybrid policy and the wind repowering policy — have not seen any activity under the ministry’s aegis.
• Indian DISCOMs do not have the stomach for the double digit tariffs that offshore auctions would inevitably yield, especially in light of the current cost sensitivity driving the electricity markets.
• There are major deterrents posed by fragmented ownership and captive consumers.

The government did make some amends recently to spur the wind energy sector in India.

• In 2016, however, the government shifted to the auctioning regime for tariff determination. This was a worthy effort to bring competition into a cost-complacent market, especially in light of the success solar energy had achieved.

Way Forward:

• The Solar PV and wind hybrid projects require some nuance in designing and planning.
• Repowering old wind projects by replacing them with newer, efficient technology could optimise utilisation of high wind potential sites.
• There is the need for a third-party player who acts as intermediary — someone who consolidates the old project owners (probably 70-80%) — and then facilitates repowering.
• There is a need to compensate the old project owner for the remaining life of their assets.
• Increase the public – private partnership projects.
• Actively pursuing the offshore wind policy, solar PV-wind hybrid policy and the wind repowering policy.

Conclusion:

        Despite its many challenges, wind energy in India has a lot to gain from its experience and its large manufacturing base. It is vital in our goals of achieving INDC’s of Paris agreement. Key government and private stakeholders can maximise on the existing policies and ensure a competitive, cost-conscious growth.