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Tamil Nadu Wind Energy

Indian State Generates Record Wind Power, Forced To Shut Thermal Power Projects

written by saurabh

The monsoon season in India brings with it very high wind speeds, especially in the southern part of country. This year it has enabled record wind power generation in at least one of the states.

Tamil Nadu reported highest-ever wind energy generation in the country. The state experienced more than 5,000 megawatts of wind power for more than 2 hours on 11 July. The highest wind generation was recorded at 7 in the evening as 5,079 megawatts.

The high wind energy generation forced the state utility to shutdown 1,020 megawatts of thermal power capacity and operate several other power plants at half of their capacity.

With a total demand of less than 14,000 megawatts on 11 July evening, wind power fulfilled more than a third of the total demand. The total energy generated from wind energy projects that day was 84.5 million kWh, which translates into 28% of the total electricity consumed in the state. The electricity generation was slightly lower than the all-time record of 99.5 million kWh.

Tamil Nadu has the largest installed wind energy capacity among all Indian states. The state has had several transmission issues, especially during the monsoon season, for absorbing all the wind energy generated. But the situation seems to have improved significantly now as has been demonstrated by the high share of wind energy procurement.

Things may have also improved due to an advisory issued by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy which termed solar and wind energy projects as ‘must run’. This means that state utilities are obligated to procure electricity from renewable energy projects even if they have to shutdown thermal power plants.

07/15/2017 0 comment

Renewable Energy

Another Indian State Launches 500 Megawatt Wind Energy Tender

written by saurabh

The massive response to the country’s first-ever wind energy auction has prompted Indian states to switch from feed-in tariff mechanism to competitive auctions.

After Gujarat, now Tamil Nadu has also issued a tender to auction 500 megawatts of wind energy capacity. This marks a major shift in India’s wind energy market which is also the largest contributor to its renewable energy capacity with a share of 56%. Tamil Nadu leads all states in terms of installed wind energy capacity.

Tamil Nadu aims to allocate 500 megawatt wind energy capacity in order to secure enough electricity to meet its renewable purchase obligation wherein all power utilities are required to source a set minimum percentage of electricity from renewable energy projects. At the national level India targets share of renewable energy at 15% of total electricity consumption by March 2022.

The maximum bid that can be submitted by a project developer for the tender is Rs 3.46/kWh (5.4¢/kWh) the tariff discovered in the first-ever wind energy auction in India. The auction was organised by the Solar Energy Corporation of India earlier this year.

The tender was oversubscribed with total 13 developers submitted bids equivalent to 2.6 gigawatts in comparison to 1 gigawatts bids called for. Bids were received from major giants including Adani Power, Hero Future Energies, Renew Power and Inox Wind. Most of the developers i.e. 69% bid to set up projects in the state of Tamil Nadu.

Mytrah Energy, Green Infra, Inox Wind, Ostro Energy and Adani Group were the successful bidders grabbing a total of 1,050 megawatt capacity at a tariff of Rs 3.46/kWh.

The auction route would be highly beneficial to the power utility of Tamil Nadu. Like several other utilities in India Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Company (TANGEDCO) regularly faces financial issues and delays payments to project developers.

With the benchmark set at Rs 3.46/kWh (5.4¢/kWh) TANGEDCO will get at least 16.8% discount over the prevailing feed-in tariff in the state.

Already, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat has directed their power utilities not to sign power purchase agreements with wind energy project developers at feed-in tariffs. Gujarat recently floated a tender to acquire 500 megawatts wind energy.

The state tenders will complement the aggressive push by the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy at the central level.

The Solar Energy Corporation of India has announced that it will auction 4,000 megawatts of wind energy capacity this financial year, i.e. by March 2018. The agency shall offer this capacity to prospective project developers in multiple trenches. SECI is also expected to launch wind energy tenders of 5,000-6,000 megawatts every year till 2022.

India plans to have installed wind energy capacity of 60 gigawatts by March 2022, these auctions are will be aligned to achieve this goal. India’s current installed wind energy capacity stands at just over 32 gigawatts.

06/23/2017 0 comment

Renewable Energy

1 GW Auction Yields India’s Cheapest Wind Power At 5.2¢/kWh

written by saurabh

Four developers secured rights to develop a cumulative of 1,000 megawatts in first-ever wind energy auction held in India.

According to media reports, the four project developers were allocated 250 megawatts capacity each at a tariff of Rs 3.46/kWh (5.2¢/kWh) in the auction organised by the Solar Energy Corporation of India. Mytrah Energy, Green Infra, Inox Wind and Ostro Energy were the successful bidders.

Mytrah Energy and Green Infra are expected to set up projects in the state of Tamil Nadu while Inox Wind and Ostro Energy would likely set up projects in the state of Gujarat. The companies shall sell electricity generated to Power Trading Corporation of India which will in turn sign power sale agreements with interested utilities across the country.

All companies except Inox Wind are project developers while Inox Wind is a turbine manufacturer. Another project developer Adani Enterprises also placed a bid of Rs 3.46/kWh (5.2¢/kWh) but could not get any capacity allocation.

The tariff discovered in the auction is lower than feed-in tariff offered by any state. The lowest tariff offered is Rs 4.16/kWh (6.2¢/kWh) in Tamil Nadu, although Rs 3.82/kWh (5.7¢/kWh) is also offered in the state of Maharashtra at sites with low wind speeds.

Apart from Inox Wind, another turbine manufacturer participated in the auction. Gamesa India quoted a tariff of Rs 3.68/kWh (5.5¢/kWh) and failed to make the cut. ReNew Power Ventures, one of the leading project developers in India, also failed to grab any capacity as it quote a tariff of Rs 3.47/kWh.

Wind follows solar’s trend

The sharp correction in the price of wind power comes just days after India saw its lowest ever solar power tariff in an auction of 750 megawatts capacity. Solar power tariffs in the auction for Rewa solar power park collapsed from previous low of Rs 4.34/kWh (6.5¢/kWh) to Rs 2.97/kWh (4.5¢/kWh) although the levellised tariff for 25 years period will be Rs 3.30/kWh (4.9¢/kWh).

Indian bids in-line with global trends

The tariff bids seen in India’s first-ever auction are in-line with those prevalent in other markets. According to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), tariff bids for wind energy projects have converged around 4.0¢/kWh. Auctions held in Mexico, Egypt, Chile and Morocco were around the 4.0¢/kWh mark. Interestingly, tariff bids in developed countries – United Kingdom, Italy, Australia and Canada – were above 6.0¢/kWh.

02/25/2017 0 comment

Renewable Energy

India’s Orient Green Power Eyes 1 GW Wind Energy Capacity In 3-4 Years

written by saurabh

Chennai-based wind generation company, Orient Green Power, joint venture between Shriram EPC and Bessemer Venture Partners has announced plans to achieve 1,000 MW installed wind energy capacity over the next 3-4 years.

Taking advantage of Indian government ambitious wind energy initiatives, Orient Green Power is keen to increase its wind energy portfolio across the country with an estimated investment of Rs 1,000 crore (US$150 million).

According to S Venkatachalam, Managing director of Orient Green Power, the company has a huge scope to almost double its wind energy portfolio by targeting 1,000 MW over the next few years. Currently, company has an operational capacity of around 425 MW and 57 MW of projects at various stages of development.

Orient Green Power plans to add over 100 MW per year to achieve this target. Company also plans to add 47 MW of additional capacity to its existing 50.54 MW wind farm at Tadipatri in Andhra Pradesh.

The company had reported a loss of Rs 22.7 crore (US$3.4 million) in the first quarter of financial year 2016-17 mainly because utilities did not take power from the wind projects due to lack of grid availability in Tamil Nadu. To overcome the huge loss, company has sought restructuring of the debt under the 5:25 scheme launched by Reserve Bank of India last year which enables infrastructure loans to be extended up to 25 years which an option of refinancing after every five years.

Orient Green currently has operational wind assets in Tamil Nadu (308 MW), Andhra Pradesh (75 MW), Gujarat (29 MW) and Karnataka (1 MW) and 11 MW in Europe. It is also planning to expand in Maharashtra and Rajasthan.

09/24/2016 0 comment