India considers incentives for solar power
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.
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