WIND POWER: An Indian Scenario

In an interview to the English news channel ET NOW, some of the prominent names of the Indian renewable energy industry shared their thoughts on why wind power was losing its speed in the alternative energy sector. Mr. Narasimhan Santhanam, Director, Energy Alternatives India [EAI] explained on how the Wind farms were initially set up in areas where there were no land acquisition problems and in the coastal region of the state; followed by Mr. Shivaram, vice-chairman & CEO, Orient Green Power, who elaborated on how the industrial demand and the incentivized packages like guaranteed Power Purchase Agreements (PPA) and a 80% discounted depreciation catapulted wind energy to its peak. These facts were reaffirmed by Mr. Banmali Agarwala, ED, Strategy and Business Development, TATA Power, who also said that the estimated capacity of wind energy was 12 GW.

Mr. Sunil Jain, COO, Green Infra, explained on how the policies had deteriorated within a few years and was no longer the good policy it was intended to be. Although the companies recovered their investments in a period of three and half to four years he added on how the poor grid connectivity and infrastructure hindered any further developments. Mr. Tulsi Tanti, CMD, Suzlon Energy suggested that how a detailed study on integration of the north, east, west and south grids would bring down the costs and hence provide better connectivity.

Mr. Sean Sutton, President, Vestas Asia Pacific, elaborated on how the different land acquisition policies in different states further added to the current woes, followed by Mr. Narayan Kumar, Business Head, WinWind India who further implied on how the land acquisition pattern of forest lands in Karnataka and Maharashtra made the option unviable. The interview concluded with a note from Mr. Suresh Prabhu, Chairman, Council for Energy, Environment and Water, who welcomed the idea of tapping the enormous offshore wind potential. He proposed a study for the feasibility of an off-shore wind farm in line with the North Sea wind project.