India may soon launch its first-ever auction for wind energy projects as it plans to keep the investors interested even as some crucial financial incentives are set to expire by early next year.
The Ministry of New & Renewable Energy has issued a proposal to auction 1 GW of wind energy capacity across various states in India. The ministry has called for suggestions and comments from stakeholders about the same.
According to the proposal, the ministry plans to auction at least 1 GW wind energy capacity. Project developers will be free to choose the site of project installation. The base tariff for auctions shall be equal to the wind energy tariff determined by the respective state electricity regulatory commission where the project is planned to be implemented.
Power trading agencies shall signed power purchase agreements with wind energy projects. These power traders will in-turn sell the electricity to power utilities for a period of 25 years. Project developers selected following the auction shall be required to commission the projects with 15 months.
The main goal of this proposed auction is to allow states that lack wind energy resources purchase electricity from wind energy projects and meet their non-solar renewable purchase obligations.
The wind power potential in India is assessed by the National Institute of Wind Energy (NIWE) at 100 meter above ground level, which is estimated to be over 302 GW. Most of this potential exists in 8 windy States namely Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Telangana.
India has set a target to achieve 60 GW operational wind energy capacity by March 2022. The installed wind energy capacity on 30 April 2016 was 26.8 GW.
