After a lull, the wind energy sector in the country is witnessing a remarkable surge, with the installed capacity reaching an impressive 43.77 giga-watt (GW) as of 30 June 2023.
This was said by Union Minister for Power and Renewable Energy, R K Singh who was responding to a written question raised by Rajya Sabha member from BJP, Narhari Amin.
The country had a total wind power installed capacity of 40.71 GW, as of 31 May, 2022.
During FY 2022-23, the quantum of electricity generated from wind energy in country was 71,814 million units. The major wind energy producing states for the year 2022-23 were Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Telangana, he added.
The share of wind power in the total installed capacity mix in the country has also been increasing steadily. It has gone up from 6 per cent in 2007-08 to 10.3 per cent as on 30 June.
Potential Supply Mismatch
The wind resource assessment conducted by the National Institute of Wind Energy (NIWE) estimates wind power potential of 302.20 GW at 100 m ground level and 695.50 GW at 120 m above ground level in the country.
However, it may be noted that, presently in order to make the tariff commercially attractive, the wind power installation sites chosen are those which have an annual average capacity utilisation factor (CUF) of at least 30 per cent.
The NIWE study estimates potential of about 214 GW with more than 30 per cent CUF and about 57 GW with more than 35 per cent CUF. It implies that more than 200 GW of wind power can be installed in the country with commercially attractive tariff.
However, the current cumulative installed capacity of 43.77 GW wind power means less than one fifth of the country’s wind energy potential has been tapped till date.
As per the Central Electricity Authority’s ‘Report on Optimal Generation Capacity Mix for 2029-30 Version 2.0’, the likely installed capacity of wind energy by the end of the year 2029-30 is estimated to be 99.895 GW.