4 GW wind power plant to come up off TN coast

Offshore Wind Energy

- The project is as part of India's Net Zero target by 2070

- Studies across coastline of India indicate good potential both off the southern tip of the country and the west coast for offshore wind farm development

New Delhi: The central government has begun the process of selecting an offshore wind power developer (OWPD) to produce 4 gigawatt (GW) from a project off the coast of Tamil Nadu. The bidders will be selected through international competitive bidding.

While the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE) will be the nodal ministry, the National Institute of Wind Energy (NIWE) under it will be the nodal agency for the project, official sources told Bizz Buzz.

Apart from setting up the project, the successful bidder will have to ensure grid connectivity and long-term open access to grid under the general network access (GNA) framework.

The energy generated from offshore wind power projects can be consumed in captive mode or sold to third parties under the open access framework or sold through merchant sale/power exchange.

Preliminary studies carried out by the NIWE across the coastline of India indicate good potential both off the southern tip of the country and the west coast for offshore wind farm development in India with a cumulative capacity of 70 GW (70000 megawatt). This estimate is based on the Meso-scale data available in the public domain, sources said.

In September 2018, 'Guidelines for Offshore Wind Power Assessment Studies and Surveys' was made by the NIWE. In July 2022, the MNRE released a 'Strategy paper for establishment of offshore wind energy' in India. The strategy paper elaborated on multiple offshore wind project development models. It also provided a long-term offshore wind power project auction trajectory under various proposed development models.

The National Offshore Wind Energy Policy (2015) provides for offshore wind power development up to a seaward distance of 200 nautical miles from the baseline, i.e., up to the country's exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

The objectives of the 4-GW project off the TN coast are: to introduce offshore wind energy as one of the green energy generation sources to contribute towards 'Net Zero by 2070' target of the country; to develop offshore wind energy projects, related ports and logistics infrastructure and offshore wind expertise; to develop required international collaborations for development and implementation of high quality and highly reliable offshore wind power projects; and to open up new development area for the Indian economy and generate employment.