IWTMA demands 5-year policy framework to develop 50GW wind capacity

Indian Wind Turbine Manufacturers Association (IWTMA) has urged the government to implement feed-in-tariff (FiT) based bidding for large capacities and set up a five year policy framework to develop 50GW of wind projects and save this struggling industry. IWTMA in a meeting with the ministry of new and renewable energy made certain recommendations including waiver of interstate transmission system (ISTS) charges for captive consumers and FiT policy for less than 25 MW for small domestic investors in states, among others. "The wind energy sector has been reeling under tremendous pressure and struggling with the transition from FiT to reverse bidding with tariff cap regime resulting in to very low tariff. The tariff discovered is so low that it is neither bankable nor sustainable. Due to this, irrespective of bidding of 17GW, actual installation is around 700MW," IWTMA chairman Tulsi Tanti said in a statement here.

The recommendations include implementation of FiT and setting up a five years firm policy framework to develop 50GW of wind capacity, which will include National Institute of Wind Energy certified three wind zones. IWTMA has suggested that the tariffs for each zone for the five years will be fixed by the CERC as per the national tariff policy, which will reduce yearly by five paise. Also, the SECI will have to provide power purchase agreements based on the CERC tariff.

"In last two years, against countrys annual installed manufacturing capacity of 10GW, only 15 percent capacity is utilized. This low capacity utilization is not sustainable by the sector and has severely affected 4,000 SMEs and 2 million jobs. At this rate, achieving national target of 175Gw by 2022 will be a big challenge," Tanti said. He further noted that wind sector with up to 90 percent localization is truly 'Make in India' and FiT is more suitable for its sustained growth. "We need to unlock small and medium size investments at state level and promote export to fully utilize manufacturing capacity and be global hub for manufacturing wind power solutions," Tanti added.

IWTMA has also recommended waiver of ISTS charges for captive consumers under open access, uniform wheeling and banking policy for captive power consumers in the states, RPO enforcement in states and encouraging manufacturing with 30 per cent capital subsidy (from carbon cess), uniform 5 percent GST, 5 percent IGST and export incentive of 10 percent. "We are confident that with these initiatives, we will be able to provide affordable, sustainable and reliable energy to our nation. Also, it will create new jobs, provide energy security to the nation and support achieve 175GW by 2022," he added.