Wind power has seen steady growth in India: Official

New Delhi, May 23 (IANS) Obscured somewhat by developments in the solar space, wind energy in India has experienced steady development in the last 7-8 years as the government plans a major 'green corridor' project to transport surplus renewable energy to deficient states, a top official has said.

"In fact, wind has had a faster development.. one may call it steady development over the last 7-8 years. Many global leaders in the field have set up base in India," New and Renewable Energy Secretary Rajeev Kapoor told BTVi channel.

"Of course, wind generation is concentrated only in a few states like Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka... and it is our aim to facilitate inter-state transfer of renewable energy to deficient states," he said.

These developments come at a time when solar tariffs being discovered through the bidding process have hit record low.

The Secretary pointed out that his ministry had last year held a successful tender for 1 gigawatt (GW) of wind power for inter-state sale.

"The next auction of 1 GW for inter-state sale is going to take place very soon," Kapoor said.

"One massive green corridor project is being planned to ensure that surplus renewable energy is transported to deficient states," he added.

In this connection, the official said the three main challenges in wind energy were forecasting, transmission and the competitive bidding framework for trade.

"The National Institute of Wind Energy (NIWE) has worked with Tamil Nadu government to develop a wind forecasting model to forecast on a day-in-advance and intra-day basis," he said.

"This model has shown good results and the NIWE can forecast in upto 92 per cent of occasion," Kapoor said.

"With better forecasting, there can be better scheduling of generation. We also plan to start forecasting for solar," he added.

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