Lok Sabha Question No. 1638 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2017-12-28
Subject: Wind Power Capacity Addition
Ministry: NEW AND RENEWABLE ENERGY
Asked by: P.R. SUNDARAM, DHANANJAY BHIMRAO MAHADIK, RAJEEV SHANKARRAO SATAV

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF NEW AND RENEWABLE ENERGY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1638

TO BE ANSWERED ON 28.12.2017

## WIND POWER CAPACITY ADDITION

1638. SHRI P.R. SUNDARAM: SHRI DHANANJAY MAHADIK: SHRI SATAV RAJEEV:

Will the Minister of NEW AND RENEWABLE ENERGY be pleased to state:

(a): whether  there  is  a  meagre  wind  capacity  addition  this  year  and  if  so,  the  details thereof and the reasons therefor;

(b): whether the Government is planning to auction 4500 MW wind projects to upscale the wind capacity addition in the country, if so, the details thereof

- (c): the steps taken to enhance the capacity addition in the wind sector; and

(d): the other steps taken by the Government to bring down the tariffs for both wind and solar power?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR POWER AND NEW & RENEWABLE ENERGY (I/C) (SHRI R.K. SINGH)

(a) & (b): A cumulative capacity of 467 MW of grid interactive wind power has been installed as on 30.11.2017 during the current financial year. Earlier the wind power projects were  being  set-up  on  the  basis  of  Feed-in-Tariff  (FiT)  determined  by  respective  State Regulators.  In February 2017, competitive bidding route was also adopted to install the wind power projects.

The  Solar  Energy  Corporation  of  India  finalised  the  bids  for  1000  MW  of  Inter-State Transmission System (ISTS) connected wind power projects in February 2017 and bids for another 1000 MW ISTS connected wind power projects were finalised in October 2017. The bids  for  an  additional  capacity  of  2000  MW  ISTS  connected  wind  power  projects  are scheduled for submission by 16 January 2018.

In addition, three States namely Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Maharashtra have also issued bids of 500 MW each for installation of wind power projects in these States. While bids in Gujarat and  Tamil  Nadu  have  been  finalised,  the  scheduled  bid  submission  date  in  case  of Maharashtra is 20 January 2018.

This  Ministry  further  proposes  to  bring  out  bids  for  another  4000  MW  capacity  of  ISTS connected wind power projects in the current financial year.

In this manner cumulatively 9500 MW capacity of wind power projects would be bidded out by the end of current financial year.

(c): The Government is promoting wind power projects 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. In addition, Generation Based Incentive (GBI) Scheme under which Rs.0.50/unit is provided to eligible wind power generators, with a ceiling of Rs. 1.00 crore per MW, was available for the projects commissioned before 31 March 2017 and not availing Accelerated Depreciation benefit.

To tap the maximum potential of wind energy resources in the country, in addition to the providing  fiscal  and  financial  incentives  as  stated  above,  following  steps  also  have  been taken:

· Technical support including wind resource assessment and identification of potential sites is provided by the National Institute of Wind Energy, Chennai.

· In  order  to  facilitate  inter-state  sale  of  wind  power,  the  inter-state  transmission charges and losses have been waived off for the wind projects to be commissioned by March 2019.

(d): The  Government  of  India  has  issued  the  Guidelines  for  Tariff  Based  Competitive Bidding Process for Procurement of Power from Grid Connected Wind Power Projects. The main objective of these Guidelines is to provide a framework for procurement of wind power through  a  transparent  process  of  bidding  including  standardisation  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

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