A new report, Breaking the Catch-22 in Indian Offshore Wind published by MEC Intelligence and Qvartz, finds that offshore wind-based generation could compete with coal-based power towards meeting the demand-supply gap expected in 2030 in India.
India has announced an ambitious target of 5 GW OW by 2022 and 30 GW by 2030, currently nearly 70 GW potential area has been earmarked for OW development and 1.7 GW is in pipeline. The government invited an Expression of Interest for a 1 GW project in 2018, which received a response from 40+ players.
Limited progress has been made in the exploration of offshore wind resources in the last year. OW in India is currently expected to compete with cheap land-based renewables, available in a range of EUR 30-40 per MWh. The competitive pricing expectation has stalled the market.
However, the report underlines that offshore wind must be seen as a green alternative to polluting new coal power plants which will be available at EUR 65 per MWh in 2030, to meet India’s doubling electricity demand.
Interested players must leverage their global expertise and develop local capabilities to build a sustainable industry. The onus lies on both government and supply chain to deliver a roadmap that can unlock the large resource available to India.
