India hopes to encourage developments such as Enel's Fontes wind-solar facility in Brazil
India today set a goal of deploying 10GW of wind-solar hybrid capacity by 2022, as it launched a consultation on large-scale co-deployment of the two key renewables technologies – a move first flagged by Recharge earlier this year.
The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) said it is considering national policy measures to support the hybridisation of existing wind and PV plants with suitable potential, as well as the construction of new hybrid projects.
MNRE said: “Superimposition of wind and solar resource maps shows that there are large areas where both wind and solar have high to moderate potential,” adding that a twin-track approach could smooth output to the grid and make maximum use of existing network capacity.
The Indian government will seek to encourage hybrid deployment via “various incentives”, with preferential financing potentially on offer from the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) and others.
CEO of Vikram Solar Gyanesh Chaudhary told Recharge in April that high-level discussions were underway over the potential deployment of modules at operating wind farms in India.
The consultation – which closes on 30 June – is the latest policy move by India’s government designed to help accelerate progress towards its hugely ambitious goal of 100GW of solar and 60GW of wind by 2022.
MNRE said today that it hit 26.8GW of wind and 7.6GW of solar by the end of May, but many analysts still expect the country to struggle to reach its goals given the massive totals it is aiming for – especially in relation to wind.
India last week revealed its first plans for wind-power auctions, mirroring the solar tenders that have procured large amounts of capacity at ever-decreasing prices over recent years.
The auctions – initially for 1GW and specifically designed to encourage inter-state wind power trading – were described as “a positive first step in helping to support growth in the wind sector” by analysts BMI Research in a note issued today.
BMI Research said: “By securing power purchase agreements via the auction, the wind projects developed will have a guarantee that the power they generate will be bought by a utility – a guarantee that has previously been missing and resulted in numerous projects lying idle, struggling to find buyers.”
However, the research group also noted the potential for unrealistically-low project bidding – as some claim has happened with the PV tenders – and the challenge of inter-state power crossing India’s under-developed grid system.
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