India publishes guideline for 1 GW wind projects

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) of India has formulated a Scheme for Setting up of 1000 MW Inter-State Transmission System (ISTS) connected Wind Power Projects (WPP) to provide a framework for inter-state sale of wind power at a price determined through bidding process.

This will not only facilitate the non-windy States/UTs to fulfil their non-solar RPO obligations but also boost investment in the sector thus achieving the goal of reaching 60 GW of wind power capacity by 2022.

The scheme will be implemented for setting up 1000 MW capacity of ISTS connected WPP by wind power developers (WPDs) on build, own and operate (BOO) basis through open and transparent competitive bidding to provide wind power at tariff discovered through e-reverse auction. However, the capacity may go higher than 1000 MW, if there is demand from Buying Entities.

Projects under construction, projects which are not yet commissioned and projects already commissioned but which do not have any long-term PPA with any agency and selling power on short-term or merchant plant basis will, however, be considered, in case these projects are not already accepted under any other Central or State Schemes and do not have any obligations towards existing buyers.

Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) will be the nodal agency for implementation of this Scheme. SECI will develop guidelines for e-bidding process followed by e-reverse auction for eligible bidders and develop a suitable mechanism for monitoring the performance of the projects.The scope of these guidelines is to provide the necessary framework and mechanism for transparent bidding process for implementation of the scheme.

Under the scheme minimum bid capacity shall be 50 MW at one project site. A maximum capacity of 250 MW Wind Power Projects shall be allotted to one company. 

Projects could be set up on the locations, selected by the bidders on their own considering the techno-economic feasibility and other clearance as required under applicable rules and guidelines from Central and respective State Government.

The wind power deployment in India started in early 90s and with the conducive policy environment provided at Central and State level this segment has achieved highest growth amongst the other renewable energy technologies. The present wind power installed capacity in the country is nearly 28.1 GW sharing around 9 % of total installed capacity. Globally India is at 4 th position in terms of wind power installed capacity after China, USA and Germany.