The industry is still waiting for the government to introduce a new generation-based incentive for wind, but remains optimistic it will be cleared before the end of this year. "This does not show that the government interest has died in wind power," says the Indian Wind Turbine Manufacturers Association (IWTMA). The industry says as an expensive new renewable, solar needs a thrust and needs investors, but insists there is no reason to get apprehensive. "Wind is well on its way," says one company official, who prefers not to be named. "It is fed into the grid and can stand on its own." Meantime, Liming Qiao, policy director of the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC), concedes: "Generally speaking, yes there is a trend that the government is shifting the focus of policy to solar rather than wind." GWEC had planned to hold its main conference in India next year, but has decided to hold it in Brazil instead. But GWEC denied that the venue switch was because of a perceived change in the Indian government's focus. The Indian Renewable Energy Conference takes place next year, and, Qiao says: "The conference will also have a big exhibition, so we do not think it is appropriate to have two big events in the same year." She adds: "We will hold our event the year after (in India)." India's installed wind capacity stood at around 10.75 GW by end September (Windpower Monthly, October 2009).
Wind Wire: Continued support
India's wind industry remains confident that the ministry of New and Renewable Energy will continue to support the sector, despite a recent call for the country to have 20 GW of solar power connected to the national grid by 2022, up from just 2 MW today.
