The domestic wind power sector has recorded its best-ever performance in 2015-16, reaching 3,472.15 MW in country-wide installations — compared with 2,312 MW in the previous year.
The previous highest was 3,164 MW in 2011-12, the only other year in history when the domestic wind sector posted fresh capacity additions exceeding the 3K-mark. The sector was buoyed by Madhya Pradesh, which saw fresh capacity addition of 1,292 MW, the highest for any State in any year.
Wind power companies went to MP mainly because of the attractive tariff – ₹5.92 a kWhr. Rajasthan ranked next to MP, with 688 MW, followed by Gujarat (385 MW) and Andhra Pradesh (362 MW).
The new state of Telangana opened its account with 78 MW. Tamil Nadu, the leader for many years, saw 197 MW.
In the beginning of 2015-16, the then Chairman of the Indian Wind Turbine Manufacturers’ Association (IWTMA) had forecast that the year would see fresh installations of around 3,000 MW.
Ramesh Kymal, Chairman and Managing Director, Gamesa India, a leading wind turbine manufacturer, and a former Chairman of IWTMA, attributed the good performance to favourable tariffs in many States.
Outlook for 2016-17 Industry players are upbeat about the prospects for the current year, though there is scepticism for thereafter.
The two key incentives – the tax-saving accelerated depreciation, and the Generation Based Incentives, which is a top-up paid by the Centre – are likely to go.
The expiry of the former was well flagged by the Finance Minister in his Budget speech, when he said that from 2017-18, wind companies could depreciate their assets in the year of installation by only 40 per cent against 80 per cent now.
Investors are, therefore, expected to crowd-in this year.
The industry has, however, taken up the matter with the government, requesting it to reconsider abolishing the incentives, which, according to Kymal, are key to achieving the government’s target of 60 GW of capacity by 2022.