Wind power in India



Wind power generation capacity in India has significantly increased in recent years. As of 31 March 2024, the total installed wind power capacity was 45.887 gigawatts (GW). India has the fourth largest installed wind power capacity in the world. Wind power capacity is mainly spread across the southern, western, and northwestern states. The onshore wind power potential of India was assessed at 132 GW with minimum 32% CUF at 120 m above the local ground level (agl). Whereas, the estimated potential at minimum 25% CUF is 695 GW at 120 agl.

Wind power costs in India are decreasing rapidly. The levelised tariff of wind power reached a record low of inr 2.43 per kWh (without any direct or indirect subsidies) during auctions for wind projects in December 2017. However, the levelised tariff increased to inr 3.17 per kWh in May 2023. In December 2017, union government announced the applicable guidelines for tariff-based wind power auctions to bring more clarity and minimise the risk to the developers. Wind power installations occupy only 2% of the wind farm area facilitating rest of the area for agriculture, plantations, etc. Wind power plants are also capable to provide fast frequency response in ramping up falling grid frequency.

Installed capacity
The table below shows India's year on year installed wind power, annual wind power generation and annual growth in wind power generation since 2006. Wind power generation in India ranks fifth globally in 2021.

History
Development of wind power in India began in December 1952, when Maneklal Sankalchand Thacker, a distinguished power engineer, initiated a project with the Indian Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) to explore the possibilities of harnessing wind power in the country. The CSIR established a Wind Power Sub-Committee under P. Nilakantan, which was assigned the task of investigating the available resources that could be practically utilised, along with researching the economic possibilities of wind energy. With assistance from the Indian Meteorological Department, the Sub-Committee extensively reviewed available data on surface winds in India and their velocity duration, and began detailed surveys of promising sites for harnessing the optimum amount of wind energy; it also successfully developed and tested large wood-and-bamboo windmills.

In September 1954, a Symposium on Solar Energy and Wind Power organised by the CSIR and UNESCO was held in New Delhi; among the attendees was E. W. Golding, a British power engineer and authority on wind energy generation. Convinced of the potential of wind power in India, he recommended continued and extensive wind velocity surveys in different regions of India, the full-time assignment of staff to experimental wind power studies, the establishment of a dedicated research laboratory and development of small to medium-sized wind-powered electrical generators. Golding's recommendations were adopted by the CSIR in 1957. By this time, regions of Saurashtra and around Coimbatore had been identified as promising sites for generating electricity from wind power, and the Wind Power Sub-Committee had begun to erect 20 wind velocity survey stations across India, in addition to testing its indigenously designed windmills and obtaining a 6 kW. Allgaier wind turbine, which was presented to India by the West German government; experiments at Porbandar with the latter had commenced by 1961. The Indian government also considered a proposal to erect over 20,000 small to medium-sized wind-powered electrical generators in rural districts, to be used for powering water pumps and supplying electricity for remotely situated structures such as lighthouses.

In 1960, the CSIR established a Wind Power Division as part of the new National Aeronautical Laboratory (NAL) in Bangalore, which was founded that year. From the 1960s into the 1980s, the NAL and other groups continued to carry out wind velocity surveys and develop improved estimates of India's wind energy capacity. Large-scale development of wind power began in 1985 with the first wind project in Veraval, Gujarat, in the form of a 40-kW Dutch machine (make Polenko) connected to the grid. The project, an initiative of late Dr. K S Rao, the then Director of GEDA (Gujarat Energy Development Agency), was a joint venture between GEDA and J K Synthetics Ltd. Though the performance of this machine was quite poor, it established the technical viability of operating wind turbines in the grid-connected mode in India. Subsequently, the Government of India planned several demonstration wind farms in the coastal regions of the country and simultaneously launched a massive programme to identify sites suitable for wind projects. In 1986, demonstration wind farms were set up in the coastal areas of Maharashtra (Ratnagiri), Gujarat (Okha) and Tamil Nadu (Tirunelveli) with 55 kW Vestas wind turbines. These demonstration projects were supported by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE). The demonstration projects set up in 1985–86 established beyond doubt, both the technical and economic viability of the wind energy projects, while the wind-mapping programme resulted in the identification of many sites suitable for wind power projects (C-WET 2001; Mani 1990, 1992, 1994; Mani and Mooley 1983).

The potential for wind farms in the country was first assessed in 2011 to be more than 2,000 GW by Prof. Jami Hossain of TERI University, New Delhi. This was subsequently re-validated by Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory, US (LBNL) in an independent study in 2012. As a result, the MNRE set up a committee to reassess the potential and through the National Institute of Wind Energy (NIWE, previously C-WET) has announced a revised estimation of the potential wind resource in India from 49,130 MW to 302,000 MW assessed at 100 m hub height. Wind turbines are now being set up at even 120 m hub height and the wind resource at higher hub heights of around 120 m or more that are prevailing is possibly even more.

In 2015, the MNRE set the target for Wind Power generation capacity by 2022 at 60,000 MW.

East and Northeast regions have no grid-connected wind power plant as of December 2017.

No offshore wind farm is under implementation as of December 2017. However, an Offshore Wind Policy was announced in 2015 and presently weather stations and Lidars are being set up by NIWE at some locations. The first offshore wind farm is planned near Dhanushkodi in Tamil Nadu.

Electricity generation
Wind power accounts for nearly 10% of India's total installed utility power generation capacity and generated 71.814 TWh in the fiscal year 2022–23, which is nearly 4.43% of total electricity generation. The capacity utilization factor is nearly 18% in the fiscal year 2022–23 (19.33% in 2018–19,  16% in 2017–18, 19.62% in 2016–17 and 14% in 2015–16). 70% of annual wind generation is during the five months duration from May to September coinciding with Southwest monsoon duration. In India, solar power is complementary to wind power as it is generated mostly during the non-monsoon period in the daytime. Nearly 60% of the wind power is generated during the night time which is equal to the stored solar power in terms of pricing.

Wind power by state


There is a growing number of wind energy installations in states across India. Gujarat has the highest installed wind power capacity, followed by Tamil Nadu.

Gujarat
Gujarat government's focus on tapping renewable energy has led to a sharp rise in the wind power capacity in the last few years. ref name=":4" /> According to official data, wind power generation capacity in the state has increased a staggering ten times in the last six years. Gujarat has the highest share (around 23.9%) of the total installed wind power capacity of the country. Renewable energy projects worth a massive Rs 1 trillion (short scale) of memorandums of understanding (MoUs) in the Vibrant Gujarat Summit in 2017. The single largest wind turbine of 5.2 MW capacity at 120 meters hub height was installed in the state as of November 2022. The tallest wind turbine (3 MW) is located at Gondal in Gujarat with 160 m hub height.

Tamil Nadu's total wind capacity was 9608 MW by the end of March 2021, while Gujarat's capacity was approximately 1,000 MW lower, at 8562 MW. However, by the end of January 2023, Gujarat's total wind power capacity had risen to 9,919 MW, while Tamil Nadu's installed wind energy capacity was at 9964 MW. Gujarat gained 710 MW in the current fiscal year, whereas Tamil Nadu added only 99 MW. By mid-2023, Gujarat had surpassed Tamil Nadu in installed capacity.

Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu's wind production capacity was second highest (around 23% share) after Gujarat as of 31 May 2023. The Government of Tamil Nadu realized the importance and need for renewable energy, and set up a separate Agency, as a registered society, called the Tamil Nadu Energy Development Agency (TEDA) as early as 1985. Tamil Nadu was a leader in Wind Power in India, before being surpassed by Gujarat in 2023. The largest capacity wind turbine of 4.2 MW is installed in Tamil Nadu state as of October 2022. It was surpassed in the next month by a wind turbine of 5.2 MW capacity at 120 meters hub height installed in Mundra, Gujarat in November 2022. In Muppandal windfarm, the total capacity is 7633 MW with nearly 3000 wind turbines, the largest wind power plant in India. The total wind installed capacity in Tamil Nadu is 7633 MW. During the fiscal year 2014–15, the electricity generation is 9.521 GWh, with about a 15% capacity utilisation factor.

Madhya Pradesh
In consideration of a unique concept, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh has sanctioned another 15 MW project to Madhya Pradesh Windfarms Ltd. MPWL, Bhopal at Nagda Hills near Dewas under consultation from Consolidated Energy Consultants Ltd. CECL Bhopal. All 25 WEGs have been commissioned on 31 March 2008 and are under successful operation.

Odisha
Odisha a coastal state has a higher potential for wind energy. The current installed capacity stands at 2.0 MW. Odisha has a wind power potential of 1700MW. The Govt of Odisha is actively pursuing to boost Wind power generation. However, it has not progressed like other states primarily because Odisha having a huge coal reserve and a number of existing and upcoming thermal power plants, is a power surplus state.

Ladakh
The union territory of Ladakh and its Kargil district are potential wind energy areas, which are yet to be exploited.

Projects
India's largest wind power production facilities (20 MW and greater)



Repowering wind power projects
The union government has released a policy for the repowering of wind power projects which states that the repowering potential is nearly 25,406 MW. The policy includes the installation of additional wind turbines, of minimum 3 MW capacity each with hub heights above 120 meters, located in between the existing wind turbines in place of few existing turbines without any effect on one another's performance. Increasing the hub height also enhances the average wind speed captured by the turbine, thanks to the wind profile power law. Spacing between wind turbines in a wind farm can be optimized by yaw control minimizing the wake effect to enhance the capacity density (MW per square km). With the advent of towers made of wood up to 100 meters tall, the top half of the tower can be of light weight wood structure to locate wind turbines above 200 m height.

Additional electricity can be produced by covering the south-facing façade area of the wind turbine towers/masts with solar panels up to the rotor bottom tip height at an economical price.

Offshore wind power plants
India has an offshore wind energy potential of around 70 GW in parts along the coast of Gujarat and Tamil Nadu. As of May 2022, there is no offshore wind project under construction or operation. India has announced tentative schedule for calling request for quotation (RfQ) to establish off shore wind power projects.

India started planning in 2010 to enter into offshore wind power, and a 100 MW demonstration plant located off the Gujarat coast began planning in 2014. In 2013, a consortium (instead of a group of organisations), led by Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) started project FOWIND (Facilitating Offshore Wind in India) to identify potential zones for development of offshore wind power in India and to stimulate R & D activities in this area. The other consortium partners include the Centre for Study of Science, Technology and Policy (CSTEP), DNV GL, the Gujarat Power Corporation Limited (GPCL) and the World Institute of Sustainable Energy (WISE). The consortium was awarded a grant of €4.0 million by the delegation of the European Union to India in 2013 besides co-funding support from GPCL. The project activities will be implemented from December 2013 to March 2018.

The project focuses on the States of Gujarat and Tamil Nadu for the identification of potential zones for development through techno-commercial analysis and preliminary resource assessment. It will also establish a platform for structural collaboration and knowledge sharing between stakeholders from European Union and India, on offshore wind technology, policy, regulation, industry, and human resource development. FOWIND activities will also help facilitate a platform to stimulate offshore wind-related R&D activities in the country. The consortium published initial pre-feasibility assessment reports for offshore wind farm development in Gujarat and Tamil Nadu on 16 June 2015. In September 2015, India's cabinet has approved the National Offshore Wind Energy Policy. With this, the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE) has been authorised as the Nodal Ministry for use of offshore areas within the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

India seems pacing up rapidly towards offshore wind energy development as the Nodal Ministry (MNRE) & Nodal Agency (NIWE) calls with the Expression of Interest (EoI) inviting the bidders for development of first 1000MW commercial-scale offshore wind farm in India, near the coast of Gujarat. The EoI published on 16 April 2018, specifies the proposed area identified under the FOWIND & FOWPI study funded by European Union. The proposed location of the offshore wind farm could be 23–40 km off the coast from the Pipavav port, Gulf of Khambhat. The proposed area covers about 400sq km. The wind measurements & other data collection are in progress under the supervision of NIWE.