Capacity additions of wind power on declining trend in India

After reaching a peak growth of 1742 Mw during 2006-07, the annual capacity additions of wind power in India have been declining in the last two years, K Kastoorirangaian, newly elected Chairman of Indian Wind Power Association said.

The installed capacity of wind power increased by 1499.6 Mw during 2008-09, as against 1663.3 Mw during 2007-08, pushing the country to the fifth place in the world in terms of installed capacity, Kastoorirangaian told PTI here.

The cumulative installed capacity of the wind power in India stood at 10,256.8 Mw at the end of March 2009, he said.

With more awareness spreading on climate change and the pressure being exerted by other countries to reduce the emission of green house gases, there was an urgent need to promote renewable enrgy in India, he said.

Attributing the unattractive tariff that was being offered for wind energy, which was not commensurate with the investment level required to the declining growth rate, he said that the rising cost of wind turbines in the recent past contributed to the trend.

The cost of wind electric generators last year witnessed some sharp increase and it was explained that this was mainly due to the increasing cost of cement and steel. However, when the prices of steel came down subsequently, the cost of wind electric generator did not come down, he pointed out.