Ministry of New and Renewable Energy signs a strategic sector cooperation agreement and letter of intent with Denmark to explore the sources of wind energy – EQ Mag

Ministry of New and Renewable Energy signs a strategic sector cooperation agreement and letter of intent with Denmark to explore the sources of wind energy

A Strategic Sector Cooperation agreement and a letter of intent between the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and the Ministry of Energy, Utilities and Climate of the Kingdom of Denmark were signed on 06.03.2019. The cooperation agreement envisages achieving the following :-

• Technical capacity building for management of off-shore wind project
• Measures to develop and sustain a highly efficient wind industry, onshore as well as offshore
• Measures to ensure high quality of wind turbines, components, and certification requirements
• Forecasting and scheduling of off-shore wind
• Any other area as may be mutually agreed upon

The letter of intent intended to establish a Centre of Excellence for Integrated Renewable Power in India inter alia focusing on Renewable energy resource assessment with focus on onshore and offshore wind, and Hybridisation of wind, solar, hydro, storage.

Government has taken several steps to promote renewable energy, including wind energy, in the country, including in the state of Gujarat. These, inter alia, include;

• permitting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) up to 100 percent under the automatic route,
• waiver of Inter State Transmission System (ISTS) charges for inter-State sale of solar and wind power for projects to be commissioned by 30th June 2025,
• declaration of trajectory for Renewable Purchase Obligation (RPO) up to the year 2030,
• setting up of Ultra Mega Renewable Energy Parks to provide land and transmission to RE developers on a plug and play basis,
• laying of new transmission lines and creating new sub-station capacity for evacuation of renewable power,
• setting up of Project Development Cell for attracting and facilitating investments,
• Standard Bidding Guidelines for tariff based competitive bidding process for procurement of Power from Grid Connected Solar PV and Wind Projects,
• Government has issued orders that power shall be dispatched against Letter of Credit (LC) or advance payment to ensure timely payment by distribution licensees to RE generators,
• Notification of Promoting Renewable Energy through Green Energy Open Access Rules 2022,
• Notification of Late Payment Surcharge and related matters Rules 2022.

In addition to the above, the following steps have, inter alia, been taken specifically for promoting wind energy:

• declaration of trajectory for Wind Renewable Purchase Obligation (Wind RPO) up to the year 2030,
• Concessional custom duty exemption on certain components required for manufacturing of wind electric generators,
• Generation Based Incentive (GBI) is being provided to the wind projects commissioned on or before 31 March 2017,
• Technical support including wind resource assessment and identification of potential sites through the National Institute of Wind Energy, Chennai.

This information was given by Shri R.K Singh, Union Minister for Power and New and Renewable Energy in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today.