India’s wind energy sector is led by indigenous wind power industry and has shown consistent progress. The expansion of the wind industry has resulted in a strong ecosystem, project operation capabilities and manufacturing base of about 10,000 MW per annum. The country currently has the fourth highest wind installed capacity in the world with total installed capacity of 35.6 GW (as on 31^st March 2019) and has generated around 52.66 Billion Units during 2017-18.

The Government is promoting wind power projects in entire country through private sector investment by providing various fiscal and financial incentives such as Accelerated Depreciation benefit; concessional custom duty exemption on certain components of wind electric generators. Besides, Generation Based Incentive (GBI) Scheme was available for the wind projects commissioned before 31 March 2017.

In addition to fiscal and other incentives as stated above, following steps also have been taken to promote installation of wind capacity in the country:

Ø  Technical support including wind resource assessment and identification of potential sites through the National Institute of Wind Energy, Chennai.

Ø  In order to facilitate inter-state sale of wind power, the inter-state transmission charges and losses have been waived off for wind and solar projects to be commissioned by March, 2022.

Ø  Issued Guidelines for Tariff Based Competitive Bidding Process for Procurement of Power from Grid Connected Wind Power Projects 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. These Guidelines aim to enable the Distribution Licensees to procure wind power at competitive rates in a cost effective manner.

Potential of Wind Energy in India

Wind is an intermittent and site-specific resource of energy and therefore, an extensive Wind Resource Assessment is essential for the selection of potential sites. The Government, through National Institute of Wind Energy (NIWE), has installed over 800 wind-monitoring stations all over country and issued wind potential maps at 50m, 80m and 100m above ground level. The recent assessment indicates a gross wind power potential of 302 GW in the country at 100 meter above ground level. Most of this potential exists in seven windy States as given below:-