India to Launch First Offshore Wind Power Tender Soon

The government might soon roll out its first tender for installing offshore wind energy generation capacity which would provide for Viability Gap Funding (VGF) to address the concerns of high costs associated with this technology.

May 23, 2023. By Anurima Mondal

India seems to have good prospects of harnessing offshore wind power with a long coastline of around 7600 km. If all goes as anticipated, the country might soon roll out its first tender for installing offshore wind energy generation capacity which would provide for Viability Gap Funding (VGF) to address the concerns of high costs associated with this technology.

Talking about India's potential, during a seminar organised in Mumbai as a side event of the Energy Transition Working Group (ETWG) meeting of the G20 deliberations, MNRE Secretary Bhupinder Singh Bhalla confirmed, "The first offshore wind seabed lease tender is likely to be rolled out soon. We are just working on the final aspects of that. It would be one of the initial steps to foster the offshore wind sector in India."

The country is all set to become one of the important players in the global offshore wind energy sector.

Bhalla further added that VGF would be done for the initial part of offshore wind capacity. The bidding would be done on the basis of the lowest VGF on a fixed tariff. Meanwhile, the government waiting for final approvals.

The ministry would also look for other models as it intends to use every possible way to attract investments in this booming sector. Tamil Nadu and Gujarat have already agreed to purchase offshore wind power produced off their respective coasts at a very competitive tariff of INR 4 per unit for the initial few projects.

The total estimated potential of offshore wind off the coast of Tamil Nadu and Gujarat is 70 GW.

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