Accounts for nearly half of the 872 MW added throughout India

Tamil Nadu has regained the number one position in wind capacity addition in 2018-19, after being behind Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh last year.

According to data from the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, the State added 428 MW as on November 30, 2018 and accounted for nearly half of the additional new wind capacity of 872 MW added in India. Gujarat saw the second best capacity addition at 239.25 MW.

In 2017-18, Tamil Nadu added new capacity of 335.64 MW, but was overtaken by Karnataka (which added 857 MW) and Andhra Pradesh (which added 348.10 MW), the data showed.

The wind energy industry also saw a shift from the feed-in-tariff regime (where tariff was fixed) to a competitive bidding regime. With the additional capacity, the cumulative capacity in the country stands at 35,016.85 MW, against 34,145 MW in 2017-18, according to the data. In terms of cumulative capacity, Tamil Nadu leads with wind capacity of 8,624.89 MW and its wind potential is pegged at 3,3799.65 MW. Gujarat comes second with a cumulative installed capacity of 5,852.67, followed by Maharashtra at 4,788.13 MW.

Tamil Nadu also accounts for a major chunk of about 8,390 MW capacity finalised by the Solar Energy Corporation of India Ltd (SECI) and the National Thermal Power Corporation Ltd.

Unhappy investors

Despite Tamil Nadu being a leading State in terms of wind energy, developers are upset over lower price fixed by the State for wind tenders. Recently, the Indian Wind Turbine Manufacturers Association (IWTMA) moved Appellate Tribunal for Electricity (Aptel) against Tamil Nadu’s tender to procure 500 MW of wind energy with an upper tariff ceiling of Rs. 2.65 per unit through reverse bidding (where the lowest price is selected as the winning bid).