Wind power in India

Installed capacity

The table below shows India's year on year installed wind power, annual wind power generation and annual growth in wind power generation since 2006. Wind power generation in India ranks fourth globally in 2024.

History

Development of wind power in India began in December 1952, when Maneklal Sankalchand Thacker, a distinguished power engineer, initiated a project with the Indian Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) to explore the possibilities of harnessing wind power in the country. The CSIR established a Wind Power Sub-Committee under P. Nilakantan, which was assigned the task of investigating the available resources that could be practically utilised, along with researching the economic possibilities of wind energy. With assistance from the Indian Meteorological Department, the Sub-Committee extensively reviewed available data on surface winds in India and their velocity duration, and began detailed surveys of promising sites for harnessing the optimum amount of wind energy; it also successfully developed and tested large wood-and-bamboo windmills.

In September 1954, a Symposium on Solar Energy and Wind Power organised by the CSIR and UNESCO was held in New Delhi; among the attendees was E. W. Golding, a British power engineer and authority on wind energy generation. Convinced of the potential of wind power in India, he recommended continued and extensive wind velocity surveys in different regions of India, the full-time assignment of staff to experimental wind power studies, the establishment of a dedicated research laboratory and development of small to medium-sized wind-powered electrical generators. Golding's recommendations were adopted by the CSIR in 1957. By this time, regions of Saurashtra and around Coimbatore had been identified as promising sites for generating electricity from wind power, and the Wind Power Sub-Committee had begun to erect 20 wind velocity survey stations across India, in addition to testing its indigenously designed windmills and obtaining a 6 kW. Allgaier wind turbine, which was presented to India by the West German government; experiments at Porbandar with the latter had commenced by 1961. The Indian government also considered a proposal to erect over 20,000 small to medium-sized wind-powered electrical generators in rural districts, to be used for powering water pumps and supplying electricity for remotely situated structures such as lighthouses.

In 1960, the CSIR established a Wind Power Division as part of the new National Aeronautical Laboratory (NAL) in Bangalore, which was founded that year. Large-scale development of wind power began in 1985 with the first wind project in Veraval, Gujarat, in the form of a 40-kW Dutch machine (made by Polenko) connected to the grid. The project, an initiative of late Dr. K S Rao, then-Director of Gujarat Energy Development Agency (GEDA), was a joint venture between GEDA and J K Synthetics Ltd. Though the performance of this machine was quite poor, it established the technical viability of operating wind turbines in the grid-connected mode in India. Subsequently, the Government of India planned several demonstration wind farms in the coastal regions of the country and simultaneously launched a massive programme to identify sites suitable for wind projects. In 1986, demonstration wind farms were set up in the coastal areas of Maharashtra (Ratnagiri), Gujarat (Okha) and Tamil Nadu (Tirunelveli) with 55 kW Vestas wind turbines. These demonstration projects were supported by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE). The demonstration projects set up in 1985–86 established beyond doubt, both the technical and economic viability of the wind energy projects, while the wind-mapping programme resulted in the identification of many sites suitable for wind power projects (C-WET 2001; Mani 1990, 1992, 1994; Mani and Mooley 1983).

The potential for wind farms in the country was first assessed in 2011 to be more than 2,000 GW by Prof. Jami Hossain of TERI University, New Delhi. This was subsequently re-validated by Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory, US (LBNL) in an independent study in 2012. As a result, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) set up a committee to reassess the potential and through the National Institute of Wind Energy (NIWE, previously C-WET) has announced a revised estimation of the potential wind resource in India from 49,130 MW to 302,000 MW assessed at 100 m hub height.

In 2015, the MNRE set the target for Wind Power generation capacity by 2022 at 60,000 MW.

No offshore wind farm was under implementation as of December 2017. However, an Offshore Wind Policy was announced in 2015 and, as of 2017, weather stations and Lidars were being set up by NIWE at some locations. As of 2018, the first offshore wind farm was planned near Dhanushkodi in Tamil Nadu.

Electricity generation

Wind power accounts for nearly 10% of India's total installed utility power generation capacity and generated 80.27 TWh in the fiscal year 2024–25, which is nearly 4.43% of total electricity generation. The capacity utilization factor is nearly 18% in the fiscal year 2022–23 (19.33% in 2018–19, 16% in 2017–18, 19.62% in 2016–17 and 14% in 2015–16). 70% of annual wind generation is during the five months duration from May to September coinciding with Southwest monsoon duration. In India, solar power is complementary to wind power as it is generated mostly during the non-monsoon period in the daytime. Nearly 60% of the wind power is generated during the night time which is equal to the stored solar power in terms of pricing. All time maximum wind power generation was 28,974 MW as of 26 January 2025.

Wind power by state

There is a growing number of wind energy installations in states across India. Gujarat has the highest installed wind power capacity in the country, followed by Tamil Nadu. These two states account for around half of India's installed wind capacity.

Gujarat

Gujarat government's focus on tapping renewable energy has led to a sharp rise in the wind power capacity in the last few years. According to official data, wind power generation capacity in the state has increased a staggering ten times in the last six years. Gujarat has the highest share (around 26%) of the total installed wind power capacity of the country, accounting for 12.5 GW out of 48.16 GW. Renewable energy projects worth a massive Rs 1 trillion (short scale) of memorandums of understanding (MoUs) in the Vibrant Gujarat Summit in 2017. The single largest wind turbine of 5.2 MW capacity at 120 m hub height was installed in the state as of November 2022. The tallest wind turbine (3 MW) is located at Gondal in Gujarat with 160 m hub height.

Tamil Nadu's total wind capacity was 9608 MW by the end of March 2021, while Gujarat's capacity was approximately 1,000 MW lower, at 8562 MW. However, by the end of January 2023, Gujarat's total wind power capacity had risen to 9,919 MW, while Tamil Nadu's capacity was only 9964 MW. By mid-2023, Gujarat had surpassed Tamil Nadu in installed capacity. As of December 2024, Gujarat is more than 1000 MW ahead of Tamil Nadu in installed wind capacity.

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu's wind capacity was second highest (around 23% share) after Gujarat as of 30 September 2024. The Government of Tamil Nadu realized the importance and need for renewable energy, and set up a separate Agency, as a registered society, called the Tamil Nadu Energy Development Agency (TEDA) as early as 1985. Tamil Nadu was a leader in Wind Power in India, before being surpassed by Gujarat in 2023. The largest capacity wind turbine of 4.2 MW was installed in Tamil Nadu state as of October 2022, before it was surpassed in the next month by a wind turbine of 5.2 MW capacity at 120 meters hub height installed in Mundra, Gujarat, in November 2022. In Muppandal windfarm, the total capacity is 1500 MW with nearly 3000 wind turbines, the largest wind power plant in India. The total wind installed capacity in Tamil Nadu is 11,042.44 MW, around 1 GW lower than Gujarat.

Madhya Pradesh

In consideration of a unique concept, the government of Madhya Pradesh sanctioned another 15 MW project to Madhya Pradesh Windfarms at Nagda Hills near Dewas under consultation from Consolidated Energy Consultants. All 25 WEGs were commissioned on 31 March 2008.

Odisha

Odisha, a coastal state, has a higher potential for wind energy. As of 2012, the installed capacity was 2.0 MW. Odisha has a wind power potential of 1700MW. The government of Odisha is actively pursuing to boost Wind power generation. However, it has not progressed like other states primarily because Odisha has a power surplus due to huge coal reserves and a number of existing and upcoming thermal power plants.

Ladakh

The union territory of Ladakh and its Kargil district are potential wind energy areas which, as of 2015, had yet to be exploited.

Projects

India's largest wind power production facilities (20 MW and greater) include:

Repowering wind power projects

The union government has released a policy for the repowering of wind power projects which states that the repowering potential is nearly 25,406 MW. The policy includes the installation of additional wind turbines, of minimum 3 MW capacity each with hub heights above 120 meters, located in between the existing wind turbines in place of few existing turbines without any effect on one another's performance. Increasing the hub height also enhances the average wind speed captured by the turbine, thanks to the wind profile power law. Spacing between wind turbines in a wind farm can be optimized by yaw control minimizing the wake effect to enhance the capacity density (MW per square km). With the advent of towers made of wood up to 100 meters tall, the top half of the tower can be of light weight wood structure to locate wind turbines above 200 m height.

Additional electricity can be produced by covering the south-facing façade area of the wind turbine towers/masts with solar panels up to the rotor bottom tip height at an economical price.

Offshore wind power plants

India has an offshore wind energy potential of around 70 GW in parts along the coast of Gujarat and Tamil Nadu. As of May 2022, there is no offshore wind project under construction or operation. India has announced tentative schedule for calling request for quotation (RfQ) to establish off shore wind power projects.

India started planning in 2010 to enter into offshore wind power, and a 100 MW demonstration plant located off the Gujarat coast began planning in 2014. In 2013, a consortium (instead of a group of organisations), led by Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) started project FOWIND (Facilitating Offshore Wind in India) to identify potential zones for development of offshore wind power in India and to stimulate R & D activities in this area. The other consortium partners include the Centre for Study of Science, Technology and Policy (CSTEP), DNV GL, the Gujarat Power Corporation Limited (GPCL) and the World Institute of Sustainable Energy (WISE). The consortium was awarded a grant of €4.0 million by the delegation of the European Union to India in 2013 besides co-funding support from GPCL. The project activities will be implemented from December 2013 to March 2018.

The project focuses on the States of Gujarat and Tamil Nadu for the identification of potential zones for development through techno-commercial analysis and preliminary resource assessment. It will also establish a platform for structural collaboration and knowledge sharing between stakeholders from European Union and India, on offshore wind technology, policy, regulation, industry, and human resource development. FOWIND activities will also help facilitate a platform to stimulate offshore wind-related R&D activities in the country. The consortium published initial pre-feasibility assessment reports for offshore wind farm development in Gujarat and Tamil Nadu on 16 June 2015. In September 2015, India's cabinet has approved the National Offshore Wind Energy Policy. With this, the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE) has been authorised as the Nodal Ministry for use of offshore areas within the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

India seems pacing up rapidly towards offshore wind energy development as the Nodal Ministry (MNRE) & Nodal Agency (NIWE) calls with the Expression of Interest (EoI) inviting the bidders for development of first 1000MW commercial-scale offshore wind farm in India, near the coast of Gujarat. The EoI published on 16 April 2018, specifies the proposed area identified under the FOWIND & FOWPI study funded by European Union. The proposed location of the offshore wind farm could be 23 - off the coast from the Pipavav port, Gulf of Khambhat. The proposed area covers about 400 km2. The wind measurements & other data collection are in progress under the supervision of NIWE.

A viability Gap Funding (VGF) scheme for offshore wind energy projects was approved by the Union Government in June 2024, for installation and commissioning of 1 GW of offshore wind energy projects (500 MW each off the coast of Gujarat and Tamil Nadu).

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