India Wind Power Primed for a Third Straight Record, Suzlon Says

(Bloomberg) -- India is expected to install record wind capacity for a third consecutive year, according to turbine maker Suzlon Energy Ltd.

New installations will hit 6 gigawatts in the fiscal year ending in March 2018, Suzlon founder Tulsi Tanti said in an emailed statement. The country added 5.4 gigawatts capacity in fiscal 2017 and 3.4 gigawatts the year before.

India has set a goal to more than double installed capacity to 60 gigawatts over the next five years as part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's climate pledge to install 175 gigawatts of renewable capacity by 2022. The Indian government has been shifting toward auctions to buy electricity from wind, phasing out feed-in tariffs that guarantee a fixed price to producers for their power.

Investment in Indian renewable energy doubled in fiscal 2017 to $14 billion, according to Tanti. Annual investments have grown from $4 billion in fiscal 2015 and remain on pace to double on a yearly basis, he said, adding that incentives and tax breaks by India's central government have aided the build out. 

Front loading investments to beat the expiry of central government incentives helped drive installations in fiscal year 2017, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

“This accomplishment is difficult to repeat consistently unless a substantial demand is created through auctions in future,” said BNEF's New Delhi-based analyst Shantanu Jaiswal.

To contact the reporter on this story: Anindya Upadhyay in New Delhi at aupadhyay22@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Reed Landberg at landberg@bloomberg.net, Jonathan Tirone, Will Wade