The Indian government is looking to set a target of 100 GW under its national wind energy mission. While the mission is being mulled for almost a year it could be launched within months, if not weeks.
During the first meeting of the Council on Climate Change, the impending national wind energy mission was discussed. The mission would see annual capacity addition of 10 GW capacity every year to add 70-80 GW capacity by 2022 adding to the currently operational capacity of 22.5 GW.
The Indian government has already announced and started working on the revised national solar mission. As per the revised plan, a total of 100 GW of solar power capacity will be established by 2022, compared to the initial plan of 22 GW. To achieve this target the government is looking to attract significant foreign investment and provide low-cost finance through national agencies. The National wind energy mission will also be implemented through similar schemes.
The Indian wind energy market has already achieved a significant amount of maturity and is home to some of the leading wind energy companies from around the world. The investors are happy to lend to wind energy projects, especially because the tariffs for wind energy projects have been increasing for the last 2-3 years.
The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has also been able to get a significant incentive for the wind energy sector re-introduced. The accelerated depreciation was reintroduced during the current financial year, while the ministry plans to provide certainty to the generation-based incentive and plans to the continue it for the next five years with a cost of Rs 15,000 crore (~$2.5 billion).
In addition to the increased support for onshore wind energy sector the government is also planning to promote offshore wind energy market. It has already announced a 100 MW wind energy project in Gujarat. This has prompted private companies to enter the offshore wind energy market. Suzlon Energy has announced a 300 MW project off the coast of Gujarat.
The government would like to announce the initiation of the mission during or before the first-ever RE-INVEST forum scheduled in early February. During the event the government hopes to attract investment worth billions of dollars in several renewable energy markets.
Image Credit: wind turbines in India via Shutterstock
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