Steps by Government to promote Renewable Energy – EQ Mag Pro

The Government has taken several steps to promote renewable energy, including wind energy, in the country. These 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 2022,
• 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.
• Conducting skill development programmes to create a pool of skilled manpower for implementation, operation and maintenance of RE projects.

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

• 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.