The Union ministry of new & renewable energy has set a target of 30 GW for offshore wind installations by 2030. The interim target is 5 GW by 2022.
India currently does not have offshore wind farms but the ministry is in the process of inviting expressions of interest for a 1-GW offshore wind project. The exercise has evoked significant interest from the Indian and global industry, a government release said.
“While this may look moderate in comparison to India’s on-shore wind target of 60 GW and its achievement of 34 GW and solar target of 100 GW by 2022, this would still be challenging considering the difficulties in installing large wind power turbines in open seas. It may be mentioned that offshore wind turbines are of much larger dimensions and capacities than onshore turbines,” the release observed.
The UK is the world’s largest offshore wind market with a 36 per cent share in global installed capacity. Germany with 28.5 per cent and China with just below 15 per cent, come next in order.
In October 2015, MNRE had notified the National Off-Shore Wind Policy to realize the offshore wind power potential in the country. Preliminary studies have indicated good wind potential for off-shore wind power both in southern tip of Indian peninsula and west coast. Two regions where preliminary studies are conducted are off coast of Gujarat and that of Tamil Nadu. For precise wind quality measurements one LiDAR (light detection and ranging) has been installed near Gujarat coast which is generating data about quality of offshore wind, since November 2017.
Encouraged by quality of off-shore wind, a private sector player has also installed LiDAR in Gulf of Kutch in Gujarat for offshore wind resource measurements. Plans are afoot to install more of such equipment in Tamil Nadu and Gujarat. Surveys to understand the oceanographic and sea bed condition within identified zones off the coast of Gujarat and Tamil Nadu have been planned, the MNRE release said.
Global offshore wind review
As of end-2017, global installed offshore wind capacity stood at around 18,786 mw, according to information available with Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC). The offshore wind energy market is expanding rapidly with newcomers from Australia, Brazil and Turkey, taking the total number of participant countries to 17.
In 2017, a record 4,331 mw of offshore wind capacity was added globally across nine markets. This was nearly twice the quantum added in 2016. As of end-2017, nearly 84 per cent (15,780 mw) of all offshore installations were located in the waters off the coast of eleven European countries. The remaining 16 per cent is located largely in China, followed by Vietnam, Japan, South Korea, the United States and Taiwan.
The UK is the world’s largest offshore wind market and accounts for 36 per cent of installed capacity, followed by Germany in the second place with 28.5 per cent. China comes third in the global offshore rankings with just under 15 per cent of the global installed capacity.
Other countries on the offshore wind industry map include Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, Vietnam, Finland, Japan, South Korea, USA, Ireland, Taiwan, Spain, Norway and France, according to GWEC.
Photograph shows the Horns Rev II offshore wind power project in the North Sea, offshore Denmark. Photo copyright: Wind Power Works; Source: GWEC