Back in February 2017 when the reverse bidding started in India’s wind sector, approximately 10 GW of wind power projects have been auctioned in the country. The wind power projects in the country are installed on the basis of commercial viability through tariff based competitive bidding process.
As on date, the bids for setting up of wind power projects of aggregate 8.4 GW capacity have been finalized through the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) and the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC).
Bids of 500 MW each have been finalized by the states of Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Maharashtra.
The government has set a target of installing 60 GW of wind power capacity by 2022, against which 35 GW capacity has already been installed.
The government is promoting wind power projects in entire country by providing various fiscal and financial incentives such as accelerated depreciation benefit; concessional custom duty exemption on certain components of wind electric generators.
However, generation based incentive (GBI) to the wind projects were ended for projects commissioned after March 31, 2017.
Since the advent of auctions, wind power tariffs have taken a deep dive. As of now, the lowest ever wind tariff is even lower than the lowest ever solar tariff in India.
The lowest ever wind bid in India is ₹2.43/kWh that was quoted in the 500 MW Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Ltd. (GUVNL) auction. While, the lowest solar tariff in India so far is ₹2.44/kWh.
In August 2018, the first batch of interstate transmission system (ISTS)-connected wind energy projects were commissioned in India.
Reference- Mercom India, PIB News Feed
