The Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) will issue a tender for the country's first mega off-shore wind farm with a capacity of 1 gigawatts (Gw) in Gujarat within a month.

“The location for first mega off-shore wind energy park has already been identified. We will come out with a tender for 1 Gw park within a month’s time,” said Anand Kumar, Secretary, MNRE, Government of India, during a presentation at the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2019 in Gandhinagar on Sunday.

State-run Solar Energy Corporation of India has been given the responsibility for the auction plan. The plan was announced in December 2017, followed by an announcement of Expression of Interests (EOIs) in June-July 2018.

The MNRE was to design and prepare the main tender document based on the discussions with participating companies of EOIs.

Some of the global majors who had submitted their EOIs are Danish, Orsted, Copenhagen Infrastructure partners, UK's Innogy Renewable, US-based Deep Water Structures, Equinor from Norway, Italian Saipem and Park Wind from Belgium among others.

Among Indian players, Torrent, Inox Wind, Suzlon, Shell India, CLP, Sterlite, Greenko an others have submitted their EOIs.

Kumar further stated that there is a potential to generate 302 Gw of energy through off-shore wind.

Transition

At a seminar on ‘Renewable Energy: Opportunities in Gujarat and India’, Kumar stated that the Government of India is ambitious about achieving faster growth for renewable energy sector.

The share of renewable in overall energy generation in India, which was 2 per cent in 2010, has increased to 20 per cent in 2018. “We expect that by 2020, the share of renewables will increase to 22 per cent,” he said.

“During the year 2017, we have seen 8.9 per cent growth rate for renewable sector. We are now moving from clean energy to green energy. Our target is to reduce carbon emissions by 30-35 per cent,” Kumar said.

India, with a total renewable installed capacity of 75 Gw currently, aims to reach the target of 175 Gw by March 2022.

Calling for reasonable rates for the sustainability of sector, Kumar stated, “We have prepared a detailed plan for growth of renewable energy in the country. We are also looking to enhance the ‘ease of doing business’ to facilitate investment in the sector. But what we expect from the industry is fair and reasonable rates, which is important for sustainability.”

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