Centre issues guidelines for procurement of wind power

In a bid to boost the clean energy production in the country, the Centre on Tuesday issued guidelines for transparent procurement of wind power through tariff-based competitive bidding.

The norms are significant because the government had decided to put for bidding 10 GW wind capacities each in 2018 -19 and 2019-20 to meet the target of 60 GW by 2022. At present, wind power installed capacity is 32 GW.

These guidelines aim to enable the distribution licensees to procure wind power at competitive rates in a cost-effective manner.

The guidelines issued under Section 63 of the Electricity Act, 2003, providing a framework for procurement of wind power through a transparent process of bidding including standardisation of the process and defining of roles and responsibilities of various stakeholders, a power ministry statement said.

The guidelines are applicable for procurement of wind power from grid-connected wind power projects (WPP) having individual size of 5 MW and above at one site with minimum bid capacity of 25 MW for intra-state projects.

Besides, it will also cover individual size of 50 MW and above at one site with minimum bid capacity of 50 MW for inter-state projects. The key components of the guidelines include compensation for grid unavailability.