India to add 30,000 MW offshore wind power capacity

India plans to set up 30,000 megawatts (MW) of offshore wind power capacity alongside 50,000 MW of solar capacity, the country’s power minister said on Tuesday.

“India has focused programs for capacity addition and accelerating the energy transition,” R.K. Singh told major German energy companies at a meeting, according to a statement by India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.

India’s much-touted tender calling for developers to set up 1,000 MW of offshore wind capacity off the Gujarat coast, is awaiting viability gap funding (VGF) sanction from the Ministry of Finance. Offshore wind is inherently costly; it’d cost at least ?8 a kWhr at today’s prices. As such, it cannot come up unless the government provides VGF support.