Centre pushes for land availability for wind projects, states look at pooling unused govt land

States are now looking at consolidating unutilized government land for wind power projects as the ministry of new and renewable energy pushes for completion of 500 GW of non-fossil power capacity by 2030.

The people quoted above said the government is looking into several issues flagged by industry, including land availability, to ensure faster implementation of projects.

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"At several forums including RE Invest 2024 and the 'Chintan Shivir' last month the issue of land availability has been talked about. The Centre has asked states to make efforts and provide land to wind power developers as land is a state subject. Post recent recommendations, a few states are now looking at consolidating government land and offering for green projects," said one of the two person.

India has a wind power capacity of 47.95 GW and plans to more than double this to 100 GW by 2030. According to the ministry, the estimated wind power potential is more than ten times that -- at 1,163.85 GW if turbines are placed at a height of 150 metres above sea level. 

The states with the most wind power potential are Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

Amid slow progress

The emphasis on land availability and accelerating project implementation comes amid a slow progress in this space. In the last financial year, only 3.25 GW of wind power capacity was installed out of a targeted 5.39 GW, according to a recent report of the standing committee on energy. 

During the April-September period of the ongoing fiscal (FY25) a total of 1.47 GW was added and in the third quarter (October-December) another 1.42 GW is projected to be added, showed data from the Wind Independent Power Producers Association (WIPPA).

WIPPA in a representation to the government in October suggested that government-owned barren land be auctioned to private developers for renewable energy projects and national, state and district-level war-rooms created for monitoring renewable energy projects. 

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Citing a McKinsey report, the industry body said that about 16.5 million hectare of unused land is available and that green power projects require only half-a-million hectares of land to meet the capacity addition target.

"In the wind energy sector, RoW (right of way) issues are the biggest reason for delay in projects. Industry needs help of local administration to protect the sites," it said.

Wind power sector grew and matured before the solar power ecosystem gained momentum in India, but the growth was subdued as most of the resourceful areas which are adequately windy were taken up. 

Also, financial constraints due to reverse auctions and very low tariffs and lack of investor interest in this space resulted in a downturn during 2019-2022. However, the situation has improved in the past couple of years.

Hybrids gain momentum

Meanwhile, amid scarcity of land, wind-solar hybrid power plants are also gaining momentum. 

"Renewable energy parks in line with solar parks, which are being conceived by the government would also help in resolving the issue of land availability," said the second person mentioned above. Renewable energy parks would offer land, transmission and other required facilities for setting up both solar and wind energy plants.

Along with onshore wind, government in the past couple of years has also emphasized on the developing offshore wind power projects in the country. Offshore wind projects are those set up on the seabed. Although highly capital-intensive in nature, the power generation capacity is higher than conventional onshore wind projects. 

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Currently India doesn't have these offshore wind farms.

This year, the government has announced plans to provide viability gap funding for 1 GW of offshore wind capacity. It has also issued a tender for development of 500 MW of offshore wind energy capacity off the coast of Gujarat supported by the VGF scheme, and another tender for leasing out of 4 GW equivalent offshore wind seabed for surveys and subsequent project development.

Queries sent to the ministry of new and renewable energy remained unanswered till press time.