Wind Power in India

Despite being a newcomer in this field, India currently has fifth largest installed wind power capacity in the world. By March 2015, India had 23,444 MW installed capacity of wind power which is 8.63% of all installed capacity and third largest after thermal and Hydel. The government has set a target 60,000 MW by year 2022. With this much installed capacity, India has fifth rank in the world after China, United States, Germany and Spain. We note here that currently, India is world’s largest biomass, third largest solar and fifth largest wind energy producer. Indian company Suzlon has expanded beyond the country and has 7.7% market share worldwide in wind turbine sales.

Important Facts

• Almost three fourth of India’s wind energy is generated between May to September because that period coincides with South West Monsoon.
• Currently, installed capacity of wind power in India is spread in north, south and western parts. As of now, East and North East have no wind power connected to grid. Among the three regions, maximum installed capacity is of south, followed by west and north.
• Among states, maximum wind power installed capacity is of Tamil Nadu with 7455MW installed capacity, followed by Maharashtra, Gujarat and Rajasthan. Tamil Nadu shares 35% of India’s total wind power installed capacity.
• Among the various wind farms, Muppandal windfarm at Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu has largest  capacity of 1500MW. Jaisalmer Wind Park of Suzlon is the second largest with 1064MW.
• Currently, all wind power is generated in onshore wind farms. India has not yet entered into the offshore wind power generation. Although some demonstration projects have been done so far.
• Wind energy accounts for around 70 per cent of installed capacity among renewable and almost all investment in India is coming through private sector investments.

Importance of wind power

Worldwide, wind energy is accepted as one of the most developed, cost-effective and proven renewable energy technologies to meet increasing electricity demands in a sustainable manner. While onshore wind energy technologies have reached a stage of large scale deployment and have become competitive with fossil fuel based electricity generation, with supportive policy regimes across the world, exploitation of offshore wind energy is yet to reach a comparable scale. India has achieved significant success in the onshore wind power development, with over 23 GW of wind energy capacity already installed and generating power.