Indian Wind Turbine Manufacturers Association (IWTMA) has expressed confidence in the growth of wind energy in the Rajasthan state.
Rajasthan installed 688 MW in the year 2015-16, and the current total installation is 4237 MW till January 2017.
The wind energy industry responded showing interest for 2644 MW by four bidders at Rs 3.46 after SECI shifted to competitive bidding instead of Feed In Tariff (FIT) on the recent 1 GW bid.
The bid of Rs 3.46 is not an aggressive bid. Most of the bids are from Tamil Nadu, where the PLF is very high and is based on interstate transaction with Power Grid Corporation of India (PGCIL) network. IWTMA has requested MNRE for future bids of 5 to 6 GW so that the canvas is large and the market will grow under this process.
“While competitive bidding is a good vehicle, open access and freedom to sell under captive and group captive is a must both for intra and interstate transaction. Exports can be pushed from the current $ 500 million to $2-3 billion per year provided we get advantage of Transport Logistics and Green Line of Credit to handle exports,” said DV Giri, secretary general of IWTMA, during a press meet.
Investment friendly policy on wind solar hybrid systems and repowering will result in accelerated growth.
Key challenges ahead are the reduction in Accelerated Depreciation (AD) from 80 percent to 40 percent and possible withdrawal of Generation Based Incentive (GBI) in April 2017 which could see some temporary slowdown in the wind industry.
Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Karnataka are the major contributors in the total wind installations in 2016 with their lion share of 3718.91 MW.
The wind installations are expected to cross 4000 MW and total installation beyond 30,000 MW by March 31, 2017.
The Government of Rajasthan should implement the RPO trajectory as recommended by Ministry of Power, India. The state may also encourage new installation of turbines and encourage interstate transaction from Rajasthan to other states.
GST will be implemented in July as planned now will pose challenge to wind sector. The wind sector has requested for ‘zero’ rating or ‘concessional rating’ for wind sector without which it will impact capital cost. MNRE has also given similar recommendation and it is interesting to note that Ministry of Power has recommended to the GST Council for ‘Zero’ rating for Renewable Energy sector.
(L-R) OP Taneja, associate director, IWTMA, DV Giri, secretary general, IWTMA, and Rajendra Vyas of Indian Wind Power Association representing the Jaipur chapter