Wind Power Portfolio, India

Located across the country, this portfolios of projects is supporting India’s green growth agenda by enhancing renewable energy capacity to meet growing energy demands. 

The country’s rapid population growth has meant increasing pressure on electricity generating capacity, of which only 13% is currently supplied by renewable energy. The project displaces electricity which would have otherwise been drawn primarily from fossil fuel power stations, also improving local air quality while avoiding solid waste generation associated with coal-fired power plants. 

Carbon finance is essential to support India’s green growth agenda and achieve the country’s installed capacity target of 175 GW by 2022.

In addition to delivering approximately 350,000 tonnes of emissions reductions annually to help take urgent action to combat climate change (SDG 13), the project delivers a number of other sustainable development benefits. These include:

• Affordable and Clean Energy: India saw CO₂ emissions rise by 5% in 2018, with the growth split evenly between power and other sectors, with power demand increased by around 5%. Annually the West India Wind Power project generates approximately 375,000 MWh of renewable electricity across the three districts, reducing CO2 emissions by displacing electricity which would have otherwise been drawn primarily from fossil fuel power stations. Renewable energy projects such as this are critical to support the country’s growing energy needs while promoting low carbon development. Project Drawdown looked at the 100 top solutions to climate change and found that onshore wind turbines has the second largest potential to reduce or remove greenhouse gases between 2020 and 2050. A global increase in onshore wind energy use from the current 3% to 22% by 2050 could reduce emissions by 84.6 gigatons of CO₂.
• Decent Work and Economic Growth: Approximately 75 employees are currently working in full-time operational roles and a further 45 in field security. During the construction period more than 270 temporary jobs were created for commissioning, power infrastructure and road construction. This project is based in a district where approximately 22% of the population live below the poverty line.
• Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure: In part because of the rapid population growth – its population grew 12% between 2010 and 2020 – India suffers from severe shortages of electricity, particularly during peak hours of demand, resulting in shut downs which can last from several hours to days in certain areas. The project helps to reduce the demand supply gap in energy infrastructure.