24 October, 2011

Helped by strong policy framework and better cost competitiveness compared to conventional power generation, India is expected to see wind energy installation of about 3,000 MW this year, says a report. The anticipated capacity addition would be 39 per cent higher than that of 2,142 MW witnessed last year, according to a HSBC Global Research. Further, the country is projected to have wind capacity addition of nearly 7,500 MW between 2011-15 period.

“The key drivers for growth are primarily a strong policy framework and improving cost competitiveness of wind technology compared to conventional generation,” the report said. Going by projections, this year alone would see a capacity addition of 2,984 MW. The country had a wind energy capacity of nearly 15,000 MW at the end of August 2011, as per official data. Historically, a significant proportion of installations in the Indian wind market have been by non-utilities/ non-developers. However, the past two to three years have seen emergence of various renewable developers, with the Indian market growing from 1,600-1,800 MW to a 2,000 MW market, the report said.

In recent times, many entities are getting into renewable power generation segment, especially focusing on wind energy. HSBC Global Research said that over 2011-15, about 7,500 MW of new wind capacity – average of 1,500 MW per annum – would be installed by “new breed of developers alone“. “We, therefore, retain our wind installation forecasts for 2012-15, with 2,400 MW installations in 2012 and 2,700 MW in 2015,” it added.