New Delhi: A Parliamentary Committee on Energy has suggested to the Central government formulate a policy for repowering of old turbines so as to boost wind power generation in the country.
Admitting that most of the wind energy potential of the country is available in only eight States namely Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Telangana and Tamil Nadu, the committee chaired by Lok Sabha MP Rajiv Ranjan Singh said that there is a need to repower the old wind turbines which not only have completed their life cycle but also occupy the best wind sites.
"It has been submitted that wind resource high-sites specific and the majority of wind rich sites of the country have already been exploited to a large extent. Old and less efficient turbines should be retired and replaced with technologically advanced and more efficient wind turbines so as to ensure maximum use of the available natural resources, land, and evacuation infrastructure," the committee said in its 27th report submitted in the Lok Sabha recently.
The committee notes that the wind resource assessment conducted by the National Institute of Wind Energy has an estimated wind power potential of 302.20 GW at 100 meters above ground level and 695.50 GW at 120 meters above ground level in the country. However, the cumulative installed capacity of wind power is only 40.71 GW as of May 31, 2022, and it is less than one-fifth of the commercially exploitable potential.
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The committee in its report noted that the reasons attributed to the slow pace of capacity addition in the wind energy sector are a shift in tariff regime from Feed-in-Tariff to Bidding Mechanism, aggressive bidding by developers, and less availability of wind-rich sites, etc. "Only a fraction of the country's wind potential has been tapped till date amounting to under-utilization of available natural resources," the committee said in its report.
The committee observes that the installed capacity of wind power was 21042.58 MW as of March 2014 which has increased to 40706.38 MW as of May 2022, witnessing an increase of 93.45 percent in eight years. On the other hand, the installed capacity of solar power has exponentially increased by 2063.86 percent during the same period. "It gives an impression that solar energy has been prioritized over wind energy despite heavy dependence on imports in the solar energy sector," the committee said in its report.
Keeping in view the fact that India has strong domestic manufacturing in the wind energy sector and wind turbines along with other related components are exported to the USA, Australia, Europe, Brazil, and other Asian countries, the committee recommended that the wind energy sector should be given due priority side by the side solar energy sector in order to maintain a balanced energy mix and also to allow the sector to reach its potential.
Talking to ETV Bharat, Rajya Sabha MP from Assam Ajit Kumar Bhuyan who is also a member of the Parliamentary Committee on Energy said that there is a vast potential for wind energy in the country. "The government, as well as other stakeholders, should have to implement proper initiative so that the wind energy potential of the country can be explored," said Bhuyan. There should be a comprehensive study on the availability of wind energy potential in other States across the country, he said.
It is worth mentioning that the government issued National Wind Solar Hybrid Policy in 2018 with the objective to provide a framework for the promotion of large grid-connected wind-solar PV hybrid systems for optimal and efficient utilization of wind and solar resources, transmission infrastructure, and land. Further, 14 sites in seven States have also been identified for the development of wind parks and wind-solar hybrid parks with an installable potential of 53,125 MW.
