India added just 1.1 gigawatt of onshore wind power projects in 2020, the lowest in a decade, according to a new report by Bloomberg NEF, an international energy research organization.
The current status of the sector
- India is currently the fourth-largest onshore wind market in the world and an important economic actor in the global energy transition.
- Wind Energy has spread across the South, West and North regions of India.
- The potential of wind energy is concentrated in the states of – Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Telangana.
India’s wind power capacity addition
- 2016-17: India's wind power capacity addition peaked in 2016-17, with about 5.5 GW of installations.
- 2017-18 & 2018-19: Despite a target of 4 GW for 2017-18 and 2018-19 each, the installations were about 47 per cent and 37 per cent, respectively, of the target.
- 2019-2020: The target for 2019-20 was reduced to 3 GW. However, only 1.1 GW has been produced.
Reason behind the slow growth
- The report titled India’s Top Wind Suppliers in 2020 attributed the slow growth to the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
- The pandemic resulted in nation-wide lockdowns in 2020 and caused severe disruptions to the supply chain and movement of goods and people, delaying project execution, the report noted.
