The wind sector in India needs an overhaul

GS Paper 3:

Syllabus: Science & Technology

Source: Down to Earth

Direction: In this article, it is important to know about the capacity potential and challenges to generating wind energy in India.

Context: Globally, India has the fourth-highest installed capacity to generate wind energy. However, the potential is higher and can be accelerated with changes to the bidding system and policies.

Key facts:

• The country’s total installed capacity was 41.67 GW as on September 30, 2022.
• The Indian government set a target for 175 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy capacity by 2022.
• The goal included achieving 60 GW of onshore and 5 GW of offshore capacity for wind energy.

What is Wind Energy?

• Wind energy is the kinetic energy associated with the movement of atmospheric air.
• Wind turbines transform the energy in the wind into mechanical power, further converting it to electric power to generate electricity.

India’s Potential for wind energy:

According to estimates by the National Institute of Wind Energy (NIWE) and the World Bank Group- The country has the potential for more than 602 GW of onshore wind energy at 120-metre hub height and 100 GW of fixed and floating offshore.

The state of Gujarat has the highest Wind Energy potential, followed by Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh

Two types of Wind energy: Onshore wind farms (located on land) and Offshore wind farms ( located in bodies of water)

Challenges in meeting targets:

1. Failing in to meet targets: With 37.5 GW of onshore wind power installed at the end of 2019, India may fall short of its 2022 targets due to pricing, payment risk mitigation, transmission capacity and land use challenges.
2. Issues with the Bidding process: Current bidding is based on tariffs derived from the site plant load factor (PLF).
   • PLF: Plant load factor (PLF) is the ratio of average power generated by the plant to the maximum power that could have been generated in a given time.
3. Policy issues: Gujarat and Tamil Nadu are the highest PLF states and to realise better tariffs, most projects are being planned in these states only (60 per cent in Gujarat and 30 per cent in TN).
4. The issue of land availability: In Gujarat, this issue may have been covered, but the greater issue of grid planning persists.
5. Infrastructure Issues: Apart from the concentration of projects that create severe pressure on land, the creation of infrastructure for power evacuation leads to a choking situation, as seen in Gujarat.
6. Investors’ unwillingness: In spite of the availability of land and infrastructure in other states, investors do not prefer Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Maharashtra as the proposed projects cannot compete with projects in Gujarat and Tamil Nadu due to PLF and economic constraints.

What is the feed-in tariff?

• The procurement model was changed from state procurement based on the feed-in tariff (FiT) to central procurement through an e-reverse auction in 2017.
• A feed-in tariff is an energy policy focused on supporting the development and dissemination of renewable power generation.
• A reverse auction is a type of auction in which the traditional roles of buyer and seller are reversed. Thus, there is one buyer and many potential sellers.

Steps have been taken to promote the installation of wind capacity in the country:

• Technical support including wind resource assessment and identification of potential sites through the National Institute of Wind Energy, Chennai.
• In order to facilitate the 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.
• Issued Guidelines for Tariff-Based Competitive Bidding Process for Procurement of Power from Grid Connected Wind Power Projects.
• National Wind-Solar Hybrid Policy (2018): To provide a framework for the promotion of large grid-connected wind-solar PV hybrid systems.
• National Offshore Wind Energy Policy (2015): To develop offshore wind energy in the Indian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) along the Indian coastline.

Way forward:

Under the circumstances, major original equipment manufacturers have resorted to exporting turbines and components as the domestic market is going down south.

• While FiT is the answer, closed bidding will perhaps see viable tariffs.
• Encouragement of captive and group captives with annual banking and interstate trading under Green Open Access will accelerate capacity addition.

Mains lInk:

Q. What do you understand by ‘curtailment of power’ in the energy sector? How is it affecting the generation of renewable energy in India? (250 words)