India has an Offshore Wind Energy Potential of 70 GW, 0 GW Fulfilled

MNRE has revealed that India has an offshore wind energy potential of around 70 GW, mainly distributed along parts of the coast of Gujarat and Tamil Nadu.

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has revealed that based on studies, India has an offshore wind energy potential of around 70 GW, mainly distributed along parts of the coast of Gujarat and Tamil Nadu.

The information was relayed by the MNRE in its submission to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Energy. The ministry had informed that the studies were conducted by the National Institute of Wind Energy (NIWE). And that the institute had published one year’s worth of wind speed data, thanks to the LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) system installed and commissioned off the Gujarat coast.

The ministry has also said that it is in the process of formalising an action plan for installing two more of these systems off the coast of Gujarat and three more off the coast of Tamil Nadu. The plan is to develop the first offshore wind energy project in the Gulf of Khambat, off the coast of Gujarat, with a stated capacity of 1 GW. The MNRE has said that all the necessary studies were completed, and clearances have been obtained with just the environmental impact assessment still underway.

The parliamentary standing committee on energy has told the ministry that it must work towards achieving the target of 5 GW of offshore wind capacity by 2020  of which at the moment 0 GW has been fulfilled, and that it should also try to make the best use of this 70 GW potential in the two states.

Furthermore, in its submission to the panel, the ministry also stated that India has a gross wind power potential of nearly 1,000 GW, citing the assessment conducted by NIWE.

Adding that most of the wind potential exists in the seven states, which include Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Tamil Nadu. These states have a wind power potential of 302 GW at 100 meters and 695 GW at 120 meters above ground level.

In December 2019, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Energy had informed the parliament that the MNRE has continuously failed to achieve its yearly targets of clean energy capacity addition, which may hamper the mission of having 175 GW of renewables by 2022.

The committee observed “with deep concern that the ministry has continuously failed to achieve its yearly target (of renewable capacity addition). For 2016-17 and 2017-18, against the grid-connected renewable energy target of 16,569 MW and 14,445 MW, the ministry could achieve 11,319.75MW and 11,876.82 MW respectively.”