The Central Government on Thursday said it would give incentives worth Rs.380 crore to promote wind power generation. The government has launched a special programme to generate more wind power and attract investments, domestically as well as globally, to give boost to cleaner and renewable energy sector, Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy Farooq Abdullah said here.
“We are implementing the generation-based incentive (GBI) scheme for grid-interactive wind power producers. This would definitely give boost to wind power producers and help cut carbon emission,” he said. The Minister said that the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency would be the nodal agency for the GBI scheme that provided subsidy of 50 paise per unit of wind power, with a ceiling of Rs.62-lakh per MW for 4-10 years. A total of Rs.380 crore has been earmarked for the scheme. The scheme would be scaled up after a review of its performance in the remaining period of the XI Plan (2007-12). The government aims to attract big power companies, particularly foreign firms, to the wind power sector.
“Since the incentives are outcome-based, this scheme would not promote fly-by-night operators. Those types of investors make money when incentives are given on the basis of investments,” said IREDA Chairman and Managing Director Debashish Majumdar.
