Wind Turbine manufacturers to mount pressure on PLI
CHENNAI: Wind turbine original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) urged the Union government to provide production-linked incentives (PLI) for wind component manufacturing MSMEs to promote high-capacity wind turbines and exports.
Indian Wind Turbine Manufacturers Association (IWTMA) argues that volume commitments are necessary to compete against subsidised production from China and lately from Western countries.
Unless there is a critical volume, nobody will manufacture smaller components though we have the ability, rising imports, said DV Giri, Secretary General of IWTMA.
“If you incentivize the production of components required, you bring down the cost of turbines, making Wind energy affordable.” He was speaking on the sidelines at an event in Chennai on Wednesday. China sets production targets and subsidies are worked out, he added.
Government handholding is essential as we shift from smaller turbines to megawatt turbines and we have to match subsidies from countries including China in wind energy components, said Parag Sharma, Founder of O2 power, an independent power producer. The dependence on China, where the industry is provided working capital and infrastructure, is for smaller parts and tasks. The government should incentivize tooling MSME players, he added.
The major wind turbine manufacturing companies in India depend on smaller players and it is important to establish the supply chain as wind capacity addition grows, Saravanan Manickam, Country head of Nordex, the German wind turbine manufacturer said.
Industry representatives spoke to TNIE and said that currently 70% of turbine manufacturing is localised and can go up to 95%. The industry body plans to mount pressure on the government. Localising these components in India without incentives and without volumetric commitment is not possible, they added.
Responding to a question about viability gap funding for battery energy storage system (BESS) announced by the Union cabinet, Parag Sharma said, “Solar and wind has already touched 15% of the entire mix and it has become more and more difficult to integrate renewables into the rest of the grid without storage support. Battery storage is (currently) costing around Rs 12 to Rs14 per unit. VGF will bring down the integration cost for renewables.”