Renewable energy in India: Lack of exploitation of

wind energy:

 In 33 years, India struggled to exploit just 12% of its wind energy

potential
 Close to 33 years after India set up its first wind energy demonstration
project of 1.15 MW in 1986 at Tuticorin, it emerges that a big source of
clean energy has not been given the policy focus it deserves.
 The latest wind energy potential study carried out by Chennai-based
National Institute of Wind Energy (NIWE) estimates 302 gigawatt (GW)
at 100 metre above ground level (AGL).
 With only 35 GW installed so far, the country has a sizable untapped
potential. It’s not just the low potential exploitation, but also its pan-
India spread that is worrying—almost 90 per cent of this potential is
concentrated in just five states.

Key facts:

 In 2015, MNRE set a target for 60 GW of wind installations by 2022.

 While the capacity additions in 2016-17 were a sizable 5.4 GW, the pace
slowed down considerably in 2017-18, with only 1.7 GW of projects
commissioned, against a target of 4.1 GW.
 Most of these installations (~1.2 GW) came online only after December
2017.
 The wind energy sector has witnessed project awards of 10 Gw between
February 2017 and September 2018 by central nodal agencies Solar
Energy Corporation of India Limited (SECI) and NTPC Ltd (NTPC) as
well as state distribution utilities. This has provided a visibility for
substantial wind-based capacity addition in 2018-19 and 2019-20.

How to achieve goal:

  If the wind energy industry is planning to meet the target of 60 GW by
2022, it must auction 20 GW of capacity within the next two years,
considering the two to three years needed to commission wind projects.
 The industry blamed the abrupt introduction of reverse auctions and
bidding, moves that it felt were not fully thought through, in addition to
the untimely withdrawal of support mechanisms.
 In contrast, the MNRE called the move a necessary “course correction”
to develop a competitive market.

Wind power in renewable energy:

 Over the last decade, wind has become the largest contributor to
renewable energy capacity additions in India. It now accounts for 50 per
cent of all renewable energy capacity and 10 per cent of the total
installed power capacity in India.
 The sector’s growth has come on the back of a favourable policy
environment, including a host of subsidies and incentives.
 At the end of 2017, India was in the fourth spot globally for cumulative
installed capacity—behind USA, China and Germany—and fifth for
annual capacity installations.
 The government has announced incentives that were subsequently
reduced and when faced with a sudden drop in the market, it has
reintroduced incentives.
 The latest abrupt change in policy occurred in 2016 when the
government introduced competitive auctions to determine tariffs and
award contracts; the change stalled the market for around a year as the
industry was unclear about certain provisions and protections in the
auction mechanism. However, over the last year, the new regime did
result in a sharp fall in tariffs.
 The sector has been marked by the introduction of large incentives and
sudden withdrawals that has, alternately, boosted installations and
disrupted the market. Growth began with the introduction of high feed-
 in tariffs (FiTs), which ensured long-term guaranteed sale of power at
attractive tariffs.
 At the same time, accelerated depreciation (AD) and generation-based
incentives (GBI) were employed to draw in investors. But these policies
were periodically withdrawn or reduced and, subsequently,
reintroduced when installations slowed down.
 Historically, the growth in wind energy capacity has followed a pattern,
with individual states dominating for a few years before the focus shifts
to another state. In the first phase, before 2004-05, Tamil Nadu was
responsible for a majority of the capacity addition—in March 2005, its
share of the country’s total wind energy capacity was around 56 per
cent.

Contribution of states:

 Maharashtra, Gujarat and Karnataka began making sizable investments

in wind energy.
 Rajasthan was the next state to show rapid growth beginning in 2009-
10, followed by Andhra Pradesh where installations increased sharply
post 2012-2013.
 During 2014-16, Madhya Pradesh was the clear leader.

The wind energy sector in India stands at crossroads today. Although its
tariffs are similar to that of solar, there are questions about their
sustainability.

Top five countries in wind energy capacity:

 India comes fourth on the list. It has the second-highest wind capacity in
Asia, with a total capacity of 35 GW.
  According to a recent report by Power-technology.com, China tops the
chart with 221 gigawatt (GW) of installed wind capacity followed by the
US and Germany.

Top ten lists:

China:

 China has a installed capacity of 221 GW and is the leader in wind

energy, with over a third of the world’s capacity. It has the world’s
largest onshore wind farm with a capacity of 7,965 megawatt (MW),
which is five times larger than its nearest rival.

United States of America:

 The US comes second with 96.4 GW of installed capacity. The country

has six of the 10 largest onshore wind farms. These include the Alta
Wind Energy Centre in California, the world’s second-largest onshore
wind farm with a capacity of 1,548 MW.

Germany:

 With 59.3 GW, Germany has the highest installed wind capacity in
Europe. Its largest offshore wind farms are the Gode Windfarms, which
have a combined capacity of 582 MW.

India:

 India has the second-highest wind capacity in Asia, with a total capacity
of 35 GW. Apart from China, India is the only Asian country to make it to
the list. India has the third- and fourth-largest onshore wind farms in
the world -- the 1,500-MW Muppandal wind farm in Tamil Nadu and the
1,064-MW Jaisalmer Wind Park in Rajasthan.

Spain:
  Spain’s 23 GW wind energy capacity, covers 18 per cent of its electricity
supply. The report by Power-technology.com said that the Spanish wind
industry had been in a steep decline over the past few years, with just
104 MW additions to its energy mix in 2016-2017.

United Kingdom:

 The UK has a total capacity of just over 20.7 GW. It has six of the 10
highest-capacity offshore wind projects in the world. One of these is the
Walney project off the coast of Cumbria, North West England, which is
the largest offshore wind project in the world.

France:

 France has an installed capacity of 15.3 GW. According to the report,

France is currently moving away from nuclear power, which previously
delivered 75 per cent of the country’s energy needs.

Brazil:

 With 14.5 GW, Brazil has the largest wind capacity in South
America. Wind powerincreased by 8.9 per cent year-on-year in
February 2019, according to the Power-technology.com report. It
further added that wind power comes fourth in Brazil’s total energy
mix, forming about 8 per cent of its 162.5 GW energy capacity.

Canada:

 Canada’s renewable energy capacity stands at 12.8 GW, with 566 MW of

new installed capacity added in 2018. This energy is generated by a
total of 299 wind farms with 6,596 turbines, the report said. The 300-
MW Rivière-du-Moulin project is the largest wind farm in Canada.

Italy:

 At the bottom of the list is Italy, which reached just over 10 GW in wind
energy capacity in 2018. Italy’s wind industry is heavily concentrated in
the south and on its islands.
References: Down to earth, ETEnergyworld