Wind power capacity additions fell to 319.2 MW in April –June this year compared to 477.7 MW in the same period last year, illustrating a ‘nothing-is-moving’ feeling that pervades the wind industry today.
In private conversations that betray a sense of despondency, wind industry leaders say they do not see capacity additions in 2015-16 being higher than the 2,300 MW the industry clocked in during 2014-15.
The lack of cheer is due to a variety of reasons in the windy States of Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Gujarat. If it were not for Madhya Pradesh, expected to install around 700 MW this year, the industry would be buckling with no buyers.
Maharashtra, the darling of the industry in 2013-14 when the State set up 1,076 MW of capacity (only Tamil Nadu had done more, and just only once), is today down in the dumps. This is mainly because State-owned power utilities are not willing to buy power; perhaps because the purchase tariff fixed by the State electricity regulatory commission is rather high at ₹5.75 a kWhr. For various reasons, the State has not signed power purchase agreements for projects commissioned in 2014-15, according to a wind power producer who did not wish to be identified.
No storage Wind power companies could sell their electricity to consumers directly but such “open access” is fraught with issues because there is practically no ‘banking’ of power. This means, if the user does not consume electricity within 15 minutes of generation, the power is lost as the producer cannot ‘bank’ the power beyond the time-frame.
In Tamil Nadu, the preponderance of fickle wind power in the total electricity mix has caused the State grid operator to shun it; the State-owned distribution utility prefers to buy steady and dependable power.
Gujarat is surplus in power and does not want more windmills. In Rajasthan there are “severe right of way issues” and the State-owned utility is limiting wind power purchase, leaving the producers to sell in the market. In Karnataka, the principal problem is acquiring land — people from outside the State cannot buy private lands beyond a stipulated limit and getting agricultural and forest lands is not easy. Andhra Pradesh also has grid constraints.
All this flies against Centre’s target of achieving 60,000 MW of wind power capacity by 2022, over 5,200 MW a year between now and 2022, which is twice the current procurement rate.