Wind power projects of 12,162 MW awarded so far in India, 37,090 MW installed

Union Minister of State (IC) New & Renewable Energy and Power, R.K. Singh, said today that wind power projects are set up in the country, including in the state of Rajasthan, on the basis of commercial principles taking into account wind resource, land availability, transmission infrastructure, etc. So far, bids for 15,100 MW of wind power projects have been issued, out of which projects of 12,162.50 MW capacity have been awarded. The cumulative installed capacity of wind power in the country is 37,090.03 MW as on 31 October 2019.

The Government has issued ‘Guidelines for Development of Onshore Wind Power Projects’ on 22 October 2016 with an objective to facilitate development of wind power projects in an efficient, cost effective and environmentally benign manner taking into account the requirements of project developers, States and national imperatives.

The Guidelines have provisions for requirement of site feasibility, type and quality certified wind turbines, micrositing criteria, compliance of grid regulations, real time monitoring, online registry and performance reporting, health and safety provisions, decommissioning plan, etc. 

The Government has also issued ‘Guidelines for Tariff Based Competitive Bidding Process for Procurement of Power from Grid Connected Wind Power Projects’, on 8 December 2017, with an objective to provide a framework for procurement of wind power through a transparent process of bidding including standardization of the process and defining of roles and responsibilities of various stakeholders.

The Government is promoting capacity addition of wind power projects through private sector investment by providing various fiscal and financial incentives such as Accelerated Depreciation benefit and concessional custom duty exemption on certain components of wind electric generators.

Besides this, a Generation Based Incentive (GBI) is available for wind projects commissioned before 31 March 2017. In addition to fiscal and other incentives as stated above, technical supportl including wind resource assessment and identification of potential sites, is being provided through the National Institute of Wind Energy, Chennai.

This information was provided by Union Minister of State (IC) New & Renewable Energy, Power and Skill Development and Entrepreneurship R.K. Singh, in written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.