NEW DELHI: Encouraged by the drop in tariff to a record low of Rs 3.46 per unit in the first auction of wind power, the government plans to put on the block more such projects in the next financial year, according to Piyush Goyal, minister for power, coal, mines and new & renewable energy.
“Transparency, which is the hallmark of the Narendra Modi government, has brought down the tariff of wind power. There will be more and more such projects on the block,” he said in an interview on Sunday.
On whether wind power tariff would fall further in future bidding, Goyal said: “That is the beauty of tariff-based competitive bidding. We cannot predict the tariff. It is the bidders who decide the price. I cannot interfere in that.”
According to him, the average wind tariff was hovering above Rs 5 a unit earlier due to feeding of rates and lack of transparency.
Till now, wind power tariff has been decided on the basis of inputs provided by power regulators such as cost of land and equipment and borrowing expenses.
Globally, India is at the fourth position after China, the US and Germany in terms of wind capacity installation. The Centre has set an ambitious target of 175 GW power from renewable energy resources by 2022 and out of this, 60 GW has to come from wind power.