Changing landscape of India's renewable energy and the contribution of wind energy

Abstract

A country of billion people, India has witnessed a sharp increase in its economic activities in the past few decades, fulfilling the needs of its ever-growing population, which has come at the expense of a considerable sum of energy and carbon emission. With rising global concern on climate change and India's commitment toward reducing carbon emission, the country is gradually shifting towards harnessing energy through renewable energy (RE), and in recent times, the electricity generation via RE covers about 20%. The road towards RE comes with many challenges, especially when most of its economic activities heavily rely on conventional energy sources. The article highlights the ever-increasing energy requirements of India and the contributions that the RE is making. Being the most contributor among all the RE in India, wind energy has a significant role. This paper presents some of the critical aspects of wind power development, current statistics, potential, and challenges. There upon, it provides some essential recommendations for wind power development, market value addition, tariff regulation, grid connectivity, research and development, and future scope of offshore wind farms in India. • With the rising global concern on climate change, India is steadily moving towards harnessing energy from renewables. • Currently, India is producing about 20% electricity from renewable energy. • About 60% of electricity produced is consumed by northern and western parts of India. • The critical aspects of wind power development, current statistics, and challenges are presented.