Draft for Comments

Draft Wind Policy

PREAMBLE:
Over the past 20 years, Indias wind sector has seen remarkable progress, led by
the indigenous wind power industry. The country currently has the fifth highest
wind installed capacity in the world with an installed capacity of 22,465 MW (as
on 31st December 2014).
India has huge amount of untapped wind power potential. Further, the levelized
cost of wind power is also falling world over. Government of India has also
projected Indias electricity demand to be more than double the current levels by
the year 2021 this estimate also includes meeting the demands of the unserved population. Thus, it is imperative that wind energy, an indigenous supply
option, is harnessed efficiently in order to optimize energy mix while also
maintaining the quality of our environment.
Government of India through introduction of this Policy, envisions to work in close
collaboration with the State Governments towards large scale deployment of wind
power in the country so as achieve the target of 60,000 MW (cumulative) by
2022. The Government also recognize the importance of wind energy in
achieving energy security for the country, and the role that wind power
development may play in reducing trade deficit and also keeping up with
environmental commitments of the Governments towards society.
OBJECTIVES:
(i) Creating necessary implementation framework for deployment on a
large scale - The first and foremost objective of the Policy is to create a
facilitative implementation framework to promote large-scale deployment
of wind generation capacity.
(ii) Ensuring long term policy certainty - To promote long term sustained
investments in the sector, the Policy aims to provide long term certainty
and clarity to stakeholders including investors, developers, manufacturers,
utilities off-takers.
(iii) Enabling market certainty The Policy will enable deeper and wider
markets and a conducive off-take environment that will result in integration
of large quanta of wind power into the system.
(iv) Enabling coordination among states for aggressive off-take of wind
power - Given that electricity is a concurrent subject, achievement of the
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objectives and targets would require close coordination between the
Centre and the States and also among States.
(v) Encouraging higher efficiency The Policy will encourage higher
efficiency and higher PLF through efficient use of land and wind resource,
better design, technology and hybridization with other sources like solar.

Operative Period:
The policy shall come into operation with effect from the date of issuance and
shall remain applicable for a period of years and/ or shall remain in force
till such time a new policy is issued. However, amendments, may be made by the
Government during the operative period.
Eligible Entities:
All registered companies, Joint Venture Companies, Central and State power
generation/transmission/distribution companies and wind power manufacturers &
developers etc. will be covered under this Policy and eligible to carry out
business in accordance with the guidelines under this Policy, subject to, fulfilment
of relevant provisions of the Electricity Act-2003 and adherence to the State
Government Policies and other relevant Rules, Regulations and Guidelines
issued by various Ministries/Departments of the Government which may be
applicable to the entity carrying out business.
Guidelines:
I.

Wind Resource Assessment:

A. Through National Institute of Wind Energy (NIWE):
The Policy intends to promote private sector participation in wind
resource assessment to cover the entire country, including public and
private land types. State Governments may provide revenue land and
may also facilitate procurement / availability of private land, for
resource assessment purposes. NIWE in collaboration with the State
Nodal Agencies (SNAs) may invite private sector firms to set up
resource monitoring stations at pre-identified sites, on a temporary right
to use basis, and based on a cost sharing mechanism.
B. Though State Nodal Agencies:
This approach assumes wind data measurement as an exclusive EPC
activity. Under this approach, NIWE may assist SNAs in inviting bids
from relevant contractors and shortlist them on the basis of minimum
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quoted fee. MNRE may provide funds through NCEF for setting up
masts and measure data for 12-24 months based on pre-specified
equipment and operational criteria laid out by NIWE. The measured
data must be submitted to the contracting agency within agreed
timeframe. NIWE/SNA may be responsible for assessing the quality of
the data submitted.
C. Though Private Agencies:
The Policy does not restrict any development pathways that have been
adopted by industry so far. Any interested entity can identify suitable
land and get necessary clearances/right to use etc. from State
Government. Under this alternative, the project approval may have a
definite time frame within which, the project should be set up by the
private party.
II.

Centralized Purchase of Power:

The Policy aims to have a central procurement wherein a Centralized
Procurement Agency may procure power generated from wind projects
and later sell the bundled power (with conventional power) in appropriate
predefined ratio or unbundled wind power, to the utility to make wind
power more acceptable for investors as well as utilities.

III.

Transmission of Power :
The Policy aims to work with Central and State Transmission Utilities to
address the following aspects related to transmission infrastructure:

IV.

(i)

Transmission Planning at Central and State level may include

wind potential and targets.

(ii)

To enable interstate off-take, high capacity corridors will be built

under the Green Corridors projects.

(iii)

Open Access for wind needs to be prioritized and simplified by the

States.

(iv)

Efforts to be made to bring uniformity in connectivity and metering

standards across the states.

(v)

Efforts will be made to introduce Wide Area Management (WAMS)

and other Smart Grid technologies for transmission management
(along with associated analytics).

Power Purchase Agreements :

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The State Utilities have separate formats of power purchase agreements,
which vary significantly. A model PPA has been prepared by MNRE and it
is suggested that the Utilities may follow the model PPAS. The model PPA
is being issued separately.
V.

Grid Integration:
The Policy aims to work with Central and State Transmission Utilities to
address the following aspects related to grid integration of wind power:
A. Forecasting and scheduling:
Forecasting and scheduling of wind power will make power system
operations more predictable, and would ultimately reduce the cost of
balancing and system management. Therefore, compliance to such
guidelines as may be issued by the CERC must be ensured by the
obligated entities.
B. Balancing Resources:
The inherent variability of wind power makes it necessary to have
balancing resources of power, which have quick ramp up ramp down
rates, which can smoothen the variations in wind power and retain
stability of the grid. Therefore, efforts will be made towards
achievement of the following objective in this regard:
(i) Facilitate creation of large balancing areas and broad-basing the
balancing responsibilities.
(ii) Ancillary Services resources may be available to the System
Operators for real time management of the system. These could
be through contracts and eventually through a structured and well
performing Ancillary Services market.
(iii) Carrying out Integrated Resource Planning.
C. Storage Technologies:
Energy storage technologies viz., pumped hydro, compressed air
energy storage, various types of batteries, flywheels, electrochemical
capacitors, etc., provide for multiple applications: energy management,
backup power, load levelling, frequency regulation, voltage support,
and grid stabilization. Efforts will be made towards popularization of the
energy storage technologies for better integration of wind energy
projects into grid.

VI.

Evacuation of Power:
Though wind energy enjoys the Must Run status, wind turbines have
been kept off-grid on grounds of grid security and safety of personnel. Due
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to lack of transmission infrastructure, wind is often backed down in states
during the high wind periods. Curtailment results in loss of power and
erosion of revenues for the generators. The State Government may
therefore ensure that the Must Run status accorded to wind energy is
complied and curtailment, if any, on grounds of grid security and safety of
personnel may not exceed 1% of the annual operational time. Beyond 1%
limit, the State Government may consider compensating the generator on
deemed generation basis.
VII.

Wind Solar Hybrid Projects:

Wind and solar are complementary to each other in terms of availability.
Also, in view of the optimum utilization of land and evacuation
infrastructure through installation of wind solar hybrid projects, Ministry
intends to promote such hybrid projects. This will further help in reducing
concerns of grid stability and may provide help in balancing of the grid
system. Ministry has issued following guidelines to State Governments for
installation of wind solar hybrid systems.
(i) In case of new wind-solar hybrid projects, the electricity fed to the grid
and metered by the utility may be divided into wind and solar
components in proportion of readings of 2 separate meters (for wind
and solar) installed before the inverter/controller system.
(ii) The tariff for wind component may be given as per the feed-in-tariff
existing in that State and tariff for solar component may be equal to
the tariff explored in the last bid of the solar projects in that State.
(iii) The ratio of wind and solar hybrid system in terms of MW may not be
left to the developers as it may have financial implications. In this
regard, SNAs may examine the lay-out of the land of the proposed
project and decide the maximum wind power capacity which can be
installed as per the existing micro-sighting norms.
(iv) The SNAs may ask the developers to have that wind power capacity
for the project and work out the solar component which can be
installed in between the wind turbines optimally, considering the
footprint area of wind turbines, orientation of land, land required to be
left for roads/O&M etc. and site specific conditions as deemed fit by
SNA and developer.
(v) Maximum solar capacity in MW may be limited to the wind capacity.
(vi) In existing wind power projects, solar panels may be installed in
between wind turbines. In this case also the solar component may be
decided by SNAs depending upon consideration mentioned in case of
new projects above.
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(vii) If the existing wind farm is old enough, the wind turbines can be
repowered with a wind-solar hybrid system. In this case, this may be
taken as a new project and component of wind and solar may be
decided accordingly.
VIII.

Repowering of old wind power projects:

There are wind power projects which have performed for 15-20 years and are
now working very sub-optimally. Interestingly, these projects are placed in best
wind potential sites. Therefore, there is need to repower these projects having
250-500 kW turbines with MW size turbines. The Ministry may come out with a
separate policy on repowering which may have following criteria:
a) Eligibility Criteria for Repowering: The project which have completed
the operational life of 15 years, may be eligible for repowering in
Category-I. Projects which have not completed the stipulated period of 15
years but their preceding three year annual average PLF is below 15%
may be considered for repowering in Category-II. All projects whether in
Category-I or II must have a minimum turbine capacity ratio [ratio of
individual turbine capacity of new turbine (Cn) to that of old turbine (Co)]
The total installed capacity at site should however, not increase by more
than 3 times the existing capacity (with old wind turbines) before
repowering or the capacity approved by the State Transmission Utility
(STU), whichever is lower.
b) Incentives for Repowering: Incentives such as Accelerated Depreciation
(AD), bonus ( additional) tariff for repowered projects for fixed period,
incentive to Discom for accepting power from repowered projects,
provision of funds for Infrastructure Development Charges (IDC) by MNRE
on the basis of increased capacity and equivalent incentives for projects
from REC route may be considered by the Ministry for Category-I
repowering. For Category-II repowering bonus tariff may not be made
available.
c) Procedure for repowering for old projects:
The investors willing to go for repowering of their existing wind project(s)
may submit the Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the proposed
repowering project to the concerned State Nodal Agency (SNA). On
approval of project by the SNA, the investor may then register with MNRE
by submitting the approval/consent letter from SNA. MNRE may then
register or reject the proposal based on the guidelines. A project proposal
approved by SNA but rejected by MNRE may still be executed for
repowering without the incentives being provided under the repowering
policy of MNRE.

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d) Compulsory removal of old projects: Projects which have completed an
operation life of 20 years or more may be compulsorily removed by State
Government. MNRE may facilitate removal of such turbines for repowering
of site through a suitable package. Existing owners may be offered first
right to refuse to repower.
e) Layout of the Repowered Project: Layout of the new project and
selection of machines etc. will be at the discretion of the developer subject
to NOCs from neighbouring projects. The design parameters such as
requirement of 5DX7D spacing may not be applicable on such projects.
f)

Repowering with Wind & Solar Hybrid: Sites where adequate solar
energy is available, the developer should make all efforts for putting up a
wind & solar hybrid project. Such projects should not have wind
component below 50% of the project capacity in MW. However, the
incentives under the repowering scheme will be available only for the wind
component.

g) Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) for Repowered Project: As the

repowering is a new concept and a fresh investment will have to be made
, SERCs may make suitable modifications in the tariff policy of respective
states by introducing the provision of signing of new PPA for repowered
project .
h) Repowering Certificates: Repowering Certificates may be introduced by
the Government in order to provide more flexibility to the developer by not
only providing option for new technology high capacity turbines at the
same site, but also providing a provision to choose to develop a new site
within the same state. Such a practice has been successfully implemented
in Denmark.
IX.

Guidelines on Land Policies:

State Government Agencies may work towards streamlining the procedure
for faster allocation of land for wind power projects. Following guidelines
may be adopted by State Government to achieve the specified objective:
(i)

State Governments may work on a uniform policy for allocation of

revenue land for wind power projects.
(ii) Automatic Non-Alienation (NA) conversion may be considered for
wind power projects.
(iii) Simple and faster Right of Way (RoW) procedure for transmission
lines.
(iv) Simplification of procedures to fast track the lease of forest lands in
consultation with MoEF.

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(v)

Acceptance of non-contiguous land for compensatory afforestation

may be considered.
(vi) Development of wind parks to facilitate wind power development
through allotment of land on easier terms in the wind potential
areas.
X.

Setting up of Wind Energy Parks:

The Policy envisages setting up of Wind Energy Parks of 500-1000 MW
each in resource-rich areas, which could be connected to the Inter-State
Transmission System (ISTS), and wind farms could be commissioned
under appropriate project allocation/power procurement mechanisms. The
parks may be selected on the basis of pre-identified criteria such as Wind
Power Density (WPD) quality, land terrain suitability, and proximity to
existing and planned grid infrastructure and highways. Detailed guidelines
will be issued by the Ministry to the SNAs for identification and
development of such wind parks. The wind parks however, may have
following attributes.
(i)

Faster clearances for setting up of wind power projects of total

capacity of at least 500 MW.

(ii)

Land lease at discounted price from market value.

(iii) Transmission infrastructure to support the proposed capacity.

(iv) Access roads connecting the site with highways or ports.
(v)

A minimum onsite construction facility.

(vi) Provision for setting up of WindSolar Hybrid Parks for harnessing

solar energy having exploitable potential at the site. MNRE to issue
separate guidelines for composition of wind solar components and
tariff for solar component.
XI.

Manufacturing & Quality of Turbines:

The Policy seeks to strengthen the technical capabilities of the
manufacturing sector and increase exports, from Indian wind turbine
manufacturers, by making them internationally competitive. Government
will make efforts towards achievement of the following:

MNRE will support augmenting of blade testing facilities and

certification of turbines for Indian wind conditions.

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Strengthening the role of NIWE as an independent certification

agency with utilization of existing manufacturing testing infrastructure

Development of Wind Energy Parks - MNRE, in coordination with

State Governments to work on developing Wind Parks, for
augmenting manufacturing capacity for both Indian markets as well
as exports.

Development of manufacturing and operation/construction ports for

offshore wind related activities.

The manufacturing to be carried out of the models having Type

Certificates. The manufacturing facilities in India will be a must.
Revised List of Manufacturers and Models (RLMM) is issued by
NIWE to ensure compliance to applicable standards and availability
of O&M facilities. The procedure for RLMM may be simplified.

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