India has identified 15 locations to develop offshore winds.
The Danish Energy Agency and the Indian Ministry of New and Renewable Energy have come up with a conceptual plan with a pipeline of these projects.
It has been reported that this joint study falls under the Centre of Excellence for Offshore Wind and Renewable Energy, a joint initiative between the Danish Energy Agency (DEA) and MNRE.
The plan is for the selected zones off the coast of Tamil Nadu and Gujarat states in India.
As per the reports, these projects plan would be instrumental for the draft tender document for the first offshore wind parks in India.
There is a selection of 14 sites in Tamil Nadu and one site in Gujarat for the auctions announced in the Strategy Paper for Offshore Wind released by Government of India earlier this year.
A local report mentioned that the “report puts forward four initial sites in Tamil Nadu for the first auction of 4GW equivalent seabed in 2022-2023 for leasing to carryout required studies and surveys and subsequent project development under an open access model.”
Meanwhile, there could be up to 25GW across the identified areas in Tamil Nadu alone, which means contribution to the 30GW government target for offshore wind in 2030.
The joint projects on maritime spatial planning and port infrastructure have provided significant inputs for the draft tender document that is currently under stakeholder consultation as well as the upcoming tenders for offshore wind in India, “Dinesh Jagdale, Joint Secretary, MNRE, commented.
