Wind power saw a gentle growth in India for about three decades (1985-2015). The country currently ranks fourth globally behind USA, China and Germany in wind generation. With a total of 37.5 GW of installed capacity, most of the wind energy generation is driven by incentives like Accelerated Depreciation (AD), Generation Based Incentives (GBI) and attractive Feed-in tariffs (FiT). In 2015, India announced an ambitious goal of putting in 175 GW of Renewable Energy (RE) by December 2022. However, it accorded a somewhat modest target of 60 GW to wind because the focus shifted to solar energy. At that time, the domestic wind industry had already matured, with an installed capacity of 25 GW. India features a wind energy potential of 302 GW at 100 metres hub height and 695 GW at 120 metres. Nearly 97% of this potential is concentrated in seven states— Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.
Wind energy found its bearings in India since the beginning the 1980s, with the country’s first wind energy demonstration project of 1.15 MW established in 1986 in Tuticorin, Tamil Nadu. But the sector’s growth trajectory didn't devour pace till the mid-2000s. Over the last decade it's reached a large 37 GW and now accounts for 50% of all renewable energy capacity and 10% of the entire installed power capacity in India. The sector’s growth has come on the rear of a favourable policy environment, including a number of subsidies and incentives. This growth, however, has been turbulent, with the government erratically introducing and withdrawing incentives.
The industry had been growing steadily since the beginning of 2000s, and has reached the maximum installed capacity in a single year (2015-2016). Thereafter, it has registered a downward trend due to a lot many reasons.
In the light of the growing global offshore sector, India released its ‘National Offshore Wind Policy’ in 2015 to realize its vast offshore potential. The country set itself a target of 30 GW from the sector by 2030. But offshore wind comes with its own set of challenges — resource characterization, sub-sea cabling, turbine foundation, and installation including logistics and development of the transmission infrastructure. India is ill-prepared to meet these challenges. It lacks sufficient wind data, oceanographic and EIA studies along with basic resource assessment and preliminary feasibility studies.