India finalizes bids for setting up over 8,000 MW wind power projects: RK Singh

31-Dec-2018

India has finalized bids for setting up wind power projects of over 8,000 Megawatt (MW) capacity through Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) and National Thermal Power Corporation Ltd (NTPC), power minister R K Singh said.

“As on date, the bids for setting up of wind power projects of aggregate 8389.90 MW capacity have been finalized through SECI and NTPC,” Singh said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.

The wind power projects in the country are installed on the basis of commercial viability through tariff based competitive bidding process. Beside above projects, bids of 500 MW each have been finalized by the states of Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, and Maharashtra, Singh informed.

The Government has set a target of installing 60 GW of wind power capacity by 2022, against which 35 GW capacity has already been installed.

The Government is promoting wind power projects in the entire country by providing various fiscal and financial incentives such as Accelerated Depreciation benefit; concessional customs duty exemption on certain components of wind electric generators. Besides, Generation Based Incentive (GBI) is being provided to the wind projects commissioned before 31 March 2017.

In addition to these incentives, various steps have been taken to promote installation of wind capacity in the country comprising technical support that includes wind resource assessment and identification of potential sites through 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 wind and solar projects to be commissioned by March, 2022.

The government has also issued guidelines for the tariff-based competitive bidding process for procurement of power from grid-connected wind power projects. These Guidelines aim to enable the distribution licensees to procure wind power at competitive rates in a cost-effective manner.

Source: ET ENERGYWORLD