Re-powering India: packing potential, lacking conviction
Re-powering India: packing potential, lacking conviction Apr 16, 2012 India’s wind energy market has enormous potential, with re-powering promising to be a key market driver. But grid integration issues must first be resolved. By K.Venkateshwar.Rao in New Delhi In the last decade, India’s wind energy market has witnessed robust growth, coasting on a compound average growth rate of 27.2 percent. This momentum is forecast to continue. The installed capacity of wind generation is set to grow four-fold over the next decade from a current installed base of over 16,000MW (at the end of 2011). A significant part of this growth promises to come from re-powering India’s ageing turbines.With the number of ageing wind farms (older than 15 years and some between 10-15 years) growing in wind rich states of Tamil Nadu and elsewhere, the business of re-powering and retrofitting is poised for massive growth in India. In addition, growing interest among independent power producers (IPP