India's wind power installation hits 2.07GW in FY2020

Tamil Nadu emerged as the leading wind installer.

Wind power installations in India rose by 31% YoY to 2.07GW in FY2020, compared to 1.58GW in the previous year, Mercom India reported. The cumulative installations stood at 37.69GW as compared to 35.63GW in FY 2019.

Tamil Nadu emerged as the leading wind installer, accounting for nearly 25% of the cumulative wind installations as of 31 March. This is followed by Gujarat, which holds 20%. Maharashtra and Karnataka came third and fourth with 13% each, whilst Rajasthan rounded off the top five with 11%.

According to the National Institute of Wind Energy (NIWE), the installable wind potential of the country is estimated to be at 695GW at 120 meters above ground level. Nearly 347GW of wind projects can be installed on cultivable lands, followed by wastelands with a possible 340GW capacity.

However, despite the cumulative installations nearly touching the 38GW mark, the yearly installations have been inconsistent so far. A steep decline of 67.2% with merely 189MW of installations in the country was seen in Q1 2020 compared to 488MW of wind in Q1 2019, attributed to the pandemic.

India is the largest wind turbine production base after China in the Asia Pacific region, with annual wind turbine manufacturing capacity up to 10GW. Wind power represents 10.1% of the total installed power capacity in India as of Q1 2020.