Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 8
Renewable energy projects, capital cost and
levelised tariff for FY 2013-2014 in India
years has been due to consistent policy devised
and implemented by President Obama's adminis-
tration to ensure that America remains a leader in
clean energy innovation. In 2012, the USA
invested $ 25 billion in wind energy and commit-
ted to continue investment in the future. According
to Wiser and Bollinger (
2013
) from the US
Department of Energy, regardless of future uncer-
tainties, wind power capacity additions over the
past several years have put the USA on an early
trajectory that may lead to 20 % of the nation's
electricity demand coming from wind energy by
2030. In order to educate, engage and enable criti-
cal stakeholders to make informed decisions about
wind energy, the US Department of Energy
designed 'Wind Program' and continuously organ-
ised events like seminars, webinars, etc. to achieve
the objectives. According to
new statistics
from
the China Electricity Council, China's wind power
production actually increased more than coal
power production for the fi rst time ever in 2012
(Shuo
2013
). Thermal power use, which is pre-
dominantly coal, grew by only about 0.3 % in
China during 2012, an addition of roughly 12 ter-
awatt hours (TWh) more electricity. In contrast,
wind power production expanded by about
26 TWh. This rapid expansion brings the total
amount of wind power production in China to
100 TWh, surpassing China's 98 TWh of nuclear
power. In 2012, the total cumulative installed wind
capacity of India stood at 18.4 GW with 6.5 % of
global capacity. Leaders of wind energy like China
and the USA are far ahead of India. China has
installed wind capacity which is four times higher
than India. This is a clear indicator that China is
really diversifying the energy mix at a faster rate.
It is advisable that India should strive hard to learn
from the leaders to achieve the objective of 33 GW
of installed capacity by 2017.
In India, wind technology was found to be
relatively cost effective compared to solar PV
and solar thermal, biomass and biogas (Table
8
).
The government of India (GoI) offers the follow-
ing important fi scal and promotional incentives
(IWEA
2013
) to encourage production, distribu-
tion and consumption of wind energy in India:
1. Concessional import duty on specifi ed wind
turbine parts
Capital cost
(lakhs/MW)
Tariff (INR/
KWh)
Technology
Wind energy
595.99
3.6 to 5.7
Small hydro projects
A. Himachal Pradesh,
Uttarakhand and
northeastern states
(less than 5 MW)
798.11
4.02
B. Himachal Pradesh,
Uttarakhand and
northeastern states
(5 MW to 25 MW)
725.55
4.02
C. Other states (below
5 MW)
621.9
4.74
D. Other states ( 5 MW
to 25 MW)
570.08
4.01
Biomass power projects
462.33
5.4 to 6.1
Non-fossil-fuel-based
co-generation power
projects
436.36
4.8 to
5.96
Solar PV power projects
800
7.9
Solar thermal power
projects
1,200
10.7
Biomass gasifi er power
projects
421.42
5.8 to 6.6
Biogas power projects 842.85 6.7
Source
: Green Peace Report on “Powering Ahead with
Renewables, Leaders and Laggards” (2013)
2. Eighty percent accelerated depreciation in the
fi rst year
3. Excise duty reliefs
4. Loans through the Indian Renewable Energy
Development Agency (IREDA)
5. Income tax holiday applicable to wind power
as in the case of power projects
With clear intention of massive improve-
ment in wind energy production, distribution
and consumption, GoI has been very proac-
tively making concentrated efforts. In order to
achieve the intended result of increasing share
of green energy, the government has been mak-
ing policies to:
1. Broaden the investor base
2. Incentivise actual generation with the help of
a generation-/outcome-based incentive
3. Facilitate entry of large independent power
producers (IPPs) and foreign direct investors
(FDI) to the wind power sector
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