Some crucial incentives for the Indian wind energy sector are expected to expire by the end of the current financial year. The Indian government has released a review of the genera
Some crucial incentives for the Indian wind energy sector are expected to expire by the end of the current financial year. The Indian government has released a review of the generation-based incentive and has asked stakeholders for their views.
The Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) tasked a private firm to evaluate the generation-based incentive which has driven a bulk of wind energy capacity addition in India over the last few years.
According to the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, generation-based incentive was launched in 2009 to provide financial support to 4,000 MW of wind energy capacity at Rs 500/MWh ($7.35/MWh) with a ceiling of Rs 6.2 million per megawatt (MW) (more than $91,000 per megawatt). The scheme was extended for the period of 2012-2017 with an increased ceiling of Rs 10 million per megawatt (MW) (around $147,000 per megawatt).
So far, more than 7000 MW wind energy capacity has been covered under the generation-based incentive scheme.
According to the evaluation report contracted by IREDA, while generation-based incentive has been a major driver of growth in India’s wind energy sector, project developers today face some very fundamental challenges which would require a complete revamp of the current scheme.