By Sarita Chaganti Singh
NEW DELHI (Reuters) -India has set a target to annually auction 8 gigawatts (GW) of wind power projects to the end of 2030 to boost renewable energy capacity, a government order said.
India, one of the world’s biggest emitters of greenhouse gases, wants to boost its renewable energy generation to 500 GW by 2030 from a current output of about 120 GW according to government data.
Previously the country had not set an annual wind power capacity target.
The bidding model has also been modified from electronic reverse bidding where the participants could reduce their offer price to bag the contracts at the lowest bid. The industry had complained that led to an artificial lowering of prices. Bidders will now not be required to revise their quoted tariff for the sale of power – a key parameter for the award of the contract.
Power generated through the new plants will be sold at an average pooled price to buyers instead of the current project-specific tariffs.
Wind power tariffs in India touched a low of 2.43 rupees per unit in 2017.
Lower tariffs benefit consumers but had stalled capacity growth in the country. India has just 42 GW of electricity generated through wind energy out of an overall capacity of about 410 GW.
(Reporting by Sarita Chaganti Singh; Editing by Nidhi Verma;Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)
