The Government is gearing up to prepare a time-bound action plan for development of offshore wind energy especially in the coastal states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka.
At a meeting of the sub-committee for preparation of the draft policy guidelines for development of offshore wind energy projects of the Ministry for New and Renewable Energy, Tamil Nadu Electricity Board chairman, Rajeev Ranjan, who is also chairman of the sub-committee, said it was high time that policy guidelines are formulated to attract investment into the sector.
“The policy guidelines will steer the offshore wind energy projects and be the basis of participation of the private sector,” he said.
It was felt that that since resource assessment is a time consuming affair, projects at the sites where initial assessment has already been carried out could be taken up initially. Dr. S. Gomathinayagam, executive director, C-WET, informed that a 100 m mast at Dhanushkodi was under installation. Besides, as per the preliminary assessment done by Scottish agencies, there is a potential of one GW north of Rameshwaram and another one GW south of Kanyakumari. “The policy should contain a detailed guideline on security and safety aspects of such offshore structures. Representatives from Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) could be taken on board due to strict requirements of the missile testing procedures in the region of mutual interest,” Director in Ministry of Power Manish Pathak said in the meeting.
It was also decided that C-WET would work on a detailed draft report and circulate the same in the sub-committee within a month. Coastal states have been advised to nominate a designated agency to deal with the issues relating to offshore wind energy development while a separate sub-group would be formed for operationalising clearances.
