Govt floats draft of revised policy for repowering 25.40 GW of wind power projects

New Delhi: The government has recently released a revised draft of the National Repowering Policy for Wind Power Projects under which it is looking to repower 25.406 GW of wind power projects, a notification showed. "The objectives of the Repowering Policy are optimum utilisation of wind energy resource by maximising energy (kWh) yield per sq km of the project area and utilising the latest state-of-the-art onshore Wind turbine technologies," said the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE). The ministry has sought comments on the draft revised policy by November 1.

Repowering of wind power projects

The wind turbine generator technology has evolved over the years and individual rated capacities of wind turbines have increased from sub-MW scale to multi-MW scale. Most of the wind turbines installed in India up to the year 2000 are of sub-MW capacity and are at sites having high wind energy potential, which means that they are producing lesser electricity than they can because of operating on obsolete technology.

"Some of the old wind turbines have already completed their design life while some are approaching the end of their design life. These wind turbines are not only inefficient in comparison to the latest technology but also have lower hub heights (in the range of 30- 60m) in comparison to hub heights of 120-140 m range being installed these days. The lower hub height wind turbines are not able to harness the higher wind speeds available at higher hub heights," the MNRE said. "Therefore, it is essential to repower these older, smaller wind turbines with higher capacity and higher efficiency turbines, in order to optimally utilise the wind energy resource available at the respective site," it added.

The National Institute of Wind Energy (NIWE) has estimated the repowering potential of the country to be 25.406 GW, considering wind turbines below capacity 2 MW.

The procedure

The government has also proposed the eligibility criteria and procedure for repowering of wind power projects. Wind projects where more than 90 percent of the total capacity of the project has completed its design life will be eligible for repowering.

State Nodal Agencies (SNAs) or the Central Nodal Agency (CNA) shall identify the potential turbines for repowering and elicit interest from the potential project owner. The project owner may submit a Detailed Project Report (DPR) for repowering the old project to the concerned SNA/CNA for verification.

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Based on the DPR, the SNA/CNA will coordinate with the respective STU/ CTU for availability/ augmentation of the transmission capacity, if required. On scrutiny of the project and transmission capacity availability, SNA/CNA may provide consent letter to the project owner/developer after obtaining in-principle consent of the incumbent discom.

In case of aggregate projects, the SNAs/CNA can either nominate any state or Central PSU as Wind Repowering Project Aggregators (WRPA) to repower the project or elicit interest from private developers for the same. The selection of the private developer as WRPA shall be transparent based on minimum technical criteria and submission of consent letters from all the identified turbine owners.

In case of ISTS-connected wind turbines, the CNA shall identify the potential turbines for repowering and carry out the required activities as mentioned.

IREDA to provide funds for repowering at 0.25% rebate

For repowering projects Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) will provide an additional interest rate rebate of 0.25 percent over and above the interest rate available to the new wind projects being financed by IREDA.

The incumbent DISCOM, with which the wind power project has an effective Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) shall neither have any right over the additional power generated nor shall have any obligation to purchase the additional power generated after repowering, the ministry has said.

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