India's new wind project guidelines give developers more responsibilities

India’s renewables ministry is seeking comments by May 27 on its new guidelines for wind project development that include capacity factor and certification requirements, and some new tasks for the developer.

The draft guidelines for onshore wind projects, published Thursday, state that the project developer should ensure that grid connectivity is technically and commercially feasible at the chosen site. Also, the developer has to ensure that wind farm equipment can be transported to the site using existing infrastructure and “in case any addition is required the same would be created without any legal issues”.

The Hindu said that, according to experts, making the developer responsible for grid connectivity and transportation could hurt investor interest in Indian wind. Also, the guidelines are “overly prescriptive”, the paper said, citing Kameswara Rao of PricewaterhouseCoopers India.

The guidelines by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) include rules ranging from land use permits to decommissioning. Among these is a mandatory requirement for wind turbine and component manufacturers to have type and quality certification by an internationally recognised certification body.

India had installed about 25 GW of wind parks at the end of 2015, according to GWEC figures. It aims to have 60 GW by the end of the decade.

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