crisil ratings: Repowering old wind power plants will attract Rs 40,000 cr investments: Crisil Ratings

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy’s (MNRE) draft policy for repowering old wind power plants is a step in the right direction to increase wind power generation and it can potentially kickstart investments worth Rs 40,000 crore, said Crisil Ratings.

This potential investment, the rating agency said, would come over the next 3-5 years.

Wind power capacity additions began in India over two decades ago, driven by the government’s supportive policies. India started harnessing wind power in the late eighties and currently the total capacity installed in the country is 41.4 GW.

The draft ‘National Repowering Policy for Wind Power Projects, 2022’ was put for public consultations on October 17, 2022.

“This (investment) may lead to replacement of 5 GW of old windmills with new wind power plants with 2x more generation ability. Their viability looks good because such projects can generate double-digit returns at tariffs of Rs 4 per unit..,” said Ankit Hakhu, Director, of CRISIL Ratings.

“Such a tariff can attract commercial and industrial customers through open access, because their average power purchase cost today is Rs 4-5 per unit,” Hakhu added.

After 2018, wind capacity additions slowed in India and one of the key reasons for this slowdown was the shortage of wind sites with high generation potential.