In India, renewable energy currently accounts for about 16% of the total installed capacity of 315,426 MW. India added a record 5,400 megawatts (MW) of wind power in 2016-17, exceeding its 4,000MW target. During 2016-17, the leading states in the wind power capacity addition were Andhra Pradesh at 2,190 MW, followed by Gujarat at 1,275 MW and Karnataka at 882 MW.In addition, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Telangana and Kerala reported 357 MW, 288 MW, 262 MW, 118 MW, 23 MW and 8 MW wind power capacity addition respectively during the same period.

At the Paris Climate Summit in December, India promised to achieve 175 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2022. This includes 60 GW from wind power, 100 GW from solar power, 10 GW from biomass and 5 GW from small hydro projects. It also promised to achieve 40% of its electricity generation capacity from non-fossil fuel based energy resources by 2030.

In the last couple of years, India has not only seen record low tariffs for solar power but wind power too has seen a significant drop in tariffs. In February, solar power tariffs hit a record low of Rs2.97 per kilowatt hour (kWh) and in May 2017 it touched further low around Rs 2.42 Kwh and Rs 2.45 Kwh respectively and wind power tariff reached Rs 3.46 kWh.

It has also come out with a ‘National Offshore Wind Energy Policy’, aiming to harness wind power along India’s 7,600 km coastline. Preliminary estimates show the Gujarat coastline has the potential to generate around 106,000 MW of offshore wind energy and Tamil Nadu about 60,000 MW