The Indian Wind Turbine Manufacturers Association (IWTMA) on Tuesday announced that the wind industry is poised to meet the Government’s target of 60 GW ahead of the 2022 deadline.

The domestic wind market is on a growth path in the competitive bidding regime and there is an increased demand for clean energy, which has now become a reliable, affordable and mainstream source of energy.

The industry has regained momentum and there is a clear business visibility of 10-12 GW even before the start of this financial year with announcement and plan of bids by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE).

Tulsi Tanti, Chairman, IWTMA, in a statement said, “In FY18, the wind industry witnessed a transition from the Feed-in-Tariff (FiT) to the competitive bidding regime, hence there was a temporary drop in volumes. The industry is now on a growth trajectory with a healthy order pipeline, owing to auctions by Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) I, II, III, IV (6,050 MW) and state level bids in Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Maharashtra (1500 MW).”

“With SECI IV, V and NTPC bids coming up, another 4 GW is expected to be auctioned in this month. Volumes are set to grow exponentially with 10-12 GW auctions each year from SECI and state bids combined, as well as from projects less than 25 MW based on a determined tariff. At the current rate, the wind industry is on course to add 30 GW of new capacity in the next three years, thereby taking the cumulative total capacity to over 60 GW by FY21,” he said.

There is a gradual stabilisation of tariff, and the scale of projects is going up to 200–300 MW capacity. This brings advantages of scale at project level and cost optimisation.

“The next-generation turbines from leading manufacturers can deliver around 35-40 per cent PLF in high-wind States, which is almost twice the PLF compared to solar,” he added.