Redirecting wind energy in India

The report by Ember analyzes the strategic importance of wind energy in India's energy transition, emphasizing its complementarity with solar power to reduce reliance on thermal power during non-solar hours. It highlights the need to accelerate wind capacity deployment to meet the 14th National Electricity Plan (NEP14) targets and discusses policy interventions, economic benefits, and the potential for offshore wind and repowering.

• India relies heavily on thermal power during non-solar hours, with thermal power meeting approximately 80% of total electricity demand on average, while wind contributes about 6%.
• Wind and solar energy exhibit temporal and spatial complementarity in India. Seasonal complementarity is seen during the monsoon (June–September) when wind generation increases as solar decreases. Diurnal complementarity occurs as wind often peaks during the night and early morning, while solar peaks during the day.
• If India had achieved its 2022 wind target of 60 GW, wind energy could have fulfilled up to 14.5% of the demand during non-solar hours, reducing thermal power reliance by approximately 7 percentage points.
• The 14th National Electricity Plan (NEP14) sets capacity addition targets by March 2032 of 122 GW for wind and 364.6 GW for solar. To reach these, wind and solar capacity must grow annually by 22% and 24%, respectively.
• Wind-solar hybrid projects achieve lower tariffs than standalone wind projects due to higher capacity utilisation factors (CUF) and optimized transmission infrastructure. For example, a 1200 MW hybrid auction discovered tariffs between INR 3.43-3.46 per unit, compared to INR 3.60-3.70 per unit for a 1350 MW vanilla wind auction.
• The Indian wind sector provides significant economic benefits, including 40,000 jobs in 2022 according to IRENA. India also has domestic manufacturing capabilities of 17.25 GW annually and exports turbines and blades to the USA, Europe, Brazil, and Australia.
• The government is implementing policies to boost wind capacity, including a revised renewable purchase obligation (RPO) trajectory where wind RPO will reach 3.48% by 2030. Additionally, a viability gap funding (VGF) scheme of INR 74.53 billion was approved in 2024 for offshore wind projects, specifically targeting 1 GW off the coasts of Gujarat and Tamil Nadu.
• India's wind repowering potential is estimated at 25 GW, focusing on replacing older turbines of up to 2 MW capacity. Tamil Nadu became the first state in 2024 to announce an exclusive policy for wind repowering, refurbishing, and life extension.

APA

Ember (2024). Redirecting wind energy in India. https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/redirecting-wind-in-india

Chicago

Ember. Redirecting wind energy in India. 2024. https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/redirecting-wind-in-india.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Ember |title=Redirecting wind energy in India |date=8 October 2024 |url=https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/redirecting-wind-in-india |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{ember2024redirecting, author = {{Ember}}, title = {{Redirecting wind energy in India}}, institution = {Ember}, year = {2024}, month = oct, url = {https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/redirecting-wind-in-india}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }