Lean phase for wind power persists, just 500 MW added this year

After adding over 2,000 MW between 2010 and 2012, the last six years saw meagre addition of 1200 MW. Out of 900 MW windmills installed in the country in 2018-19, about 500 MW capacity was installed in Tamil Nadu.

Wind power developers blamed the Tangedco for the declining capacity addition. “Earlier, the wind power sector in the State was driven by the policy of wind power banking. It allowed the wind power developers to generate maximum power during the peak wind season and use the banked energy for their industrial use during the rest of the year. Now, the newly installed windmills would not get wind power banking facility. The decision would be a deterrent to attracting new wind installations in the State from captive users,” said K Kasthurirangan, chairman of Indian Wind Power Association.

The veteran wind power developer said that the Centre has reduced the investment allowance to 40 per cent from 80 per cent. “There is no conducive atmosphere for the wind power capacity addition,” he said.

However, Tamil Nadu still remains the top state with a total installed wind power capacity of 8968 MW. A senior Tangedco official said that the addition of about 500 MW in 2018-19 should be viewed positively. “It was for the first time since 2011-12, the capacity addition of windmills has crossed 500 MW,” the official said.

After registering a high of 1,083 MW of wind capacity addition in 2011-2012, things were on a drastic downward trend for wind power generation since then. From 2012-13, the wind power capacity addition began to plunge with 174 MW and further down to 107 MW the following year in 2013-14. The wind power capacity addition stood at 187 MW in 2015-16 but came down again to 159 MW in the subsequent year. About 251 MW and 303 MW was added in 2016-17 and 2017-18 respectively.

The Tangedco official said that the Centre’s decision to auction wind power capacity through competitive bidding route would help the state add over 2000 MW next year.