India said to restart major incentive for wind parks - report

Aug 13, 2013 - Finally the Indian wind sector received good news this week after the Hindu Business Line said the central government would revive the generation-based incentive (GBI) for wind farms and allow retroactive registrations.

On Tuesday the paper said, citing knowledgeable sources, that the Indian government will pay INR 0.50 per kWh of wind power under the revived incentive scheme. Payments will stop once the payout for a wind farm reaches INR 10 million (USD 164,000/EUR 123,000) per MW. The total amount per project should be received over at least four years and for no more than 10, the report said.

According to Business Line’s sources the GBI will come into force retrospectively, allowing projects developed last year to register. Yet, it is not clear if there will be retroactive subsidies for power produced by wind farms before the scheme’s revival.

The wind power sector in India was weakened significantly last year after the GBI and the accelerated depreciation scheme ended in March 2012. As a result the volume of new wind projects plunged significantly. Recently the government introduced a new rule requiring wind farms in India to provide day-ahead output projections that added to the industry worries that profits will fall more.

In today’s article, the Hindu Business Line noted that the government had not reached any decision on the accelerated depreciation incentive. Its future is being discussed by a Committee of Secretaries, which includes the Secretaries of the Ministries of New and Renewable Energy, Power and Finance.

(INR 100 = USD 1.639/EUR 1.232)

Choose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!