15 Oct 2019
India is likely to install more wind capacity in 2019 than it did last year, but it will still be well below what it used to be earlier.
According to Bloomberg New Energy Finance, the country will install 2.9GW in 2019 against 2.3GW in 2018. In 2016-17, 5.4GW was added, while 3.4GW was achieved in 2015-16.
“We expect 15.6GW of new wind projects to be added between 2019-22. Thus, India will reach 51GW of wind installed capacity by 2022, 9GW less than the target of adding 60GW of onshore wind projects by 2022,” said Atin Jain, associate at Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF).
Bloomberg’s dismal forecast could be attributed mainly to the financial stress turbine makers are under, land acquisition issues and grid connectivity delays. “The Indian wind industry is amidst a perfect storm. Many projects that were supposed to get commissioned by mid-2020 would be delayed by 9-10 months,” Jain said.
Auctions were conducted for 5.2GW until August 2019 but only 2.9GW was awarded because of lack of developer interest, according to BNEF. Recent tenders too have seen tepid participation leading to continuous postponement. “Some IPPs have stayed away from recent auctions as they are busy building their projects awarded in previous auctions,” Jain said.
In the latest wind auction conducted by the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI), the nodal agency of the ministry of new and renewable energy, only two developers took part. Even though the original size of the tender was 1800MW, allotment was reduced to 440MW.
“The practice of setting ceiling tariffs by SECI has dampened developer interest. We requested them to remove it several times to improve participation but it doesn’t look like they are doing away with it any time soon,” said a developer, requesting anonymity.
“Projects awarded till SECI IV wind auction are progressing with some delays but there is very little on the ground activity for projects awarded in subsequent auctions,” said Jain.
The new YSR Congress government in Andhra Pradesh has been attempting to renegotiate wind and solar PPAs. This has also added uncertainty within the industry.
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