MNRE Notifies Constitution Of Wind Repowering Committee

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The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has issued a notification pertaining to the constitution of a Wind Repowering Committee. The committee will be chaired by Joint Secretary (Wind), MNRE along with Director (Technical), IREDA Director (Projects), SECI as its members, the notification said.

The MNRE committee on Wind Repowering will also have the Chairman of the Representative of Central Transmission Utility, the MD of Idam Infrastructure Advisory, and the MD of Enerfra India Pvt Ltd as its members. Apart from them, Chintan Shah, Former Director of IREDA and Director General of the National Institute of Wind Energy (NIWE) are also included in the committee as its members.

The process of wind repowering is often adopted to upgrade existing power plants with new or refurbished technology which includes installing longer and more efficient wind turbines with an aim to enhance productivity. The ministry few months back also notified its wind repowering policy to repower smaller wind turbines with capacity lower than 2 MW.

MNRE introduced the wind repowering policy in 2016 that enabled the replacement of older generation turbines with newer generation and more efficient turbines. According to MNRE, most of the wind turbines installed in India till the year 2000 are of sub-MW capacity and are at locations having high wind energy potential. These Wind turbines are not only inefficient in comparison to the latest technology but also have lower hub heights in comparison to hub heights of 120-140 m range being installed now.

According to the Center for Energy Finance, states such as Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu have made policies pertaining to repowering their old wind power projects. In Europe repowering has come under focus in the United Kingdom, Germany, Denmark, Spain, Italy, Portugal, and France.