NTPC, ONGC to scale-up offshore wind energy development

National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) Ltd and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) are planning to boost India's offshore wind power development, a coastline of about 7,600 km. Last year in May, NTPC and ONGC signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to accelerate their renewable energy footprint. According to the MoU, NTPC and ONGC will explore the set-up of offshore wind energy and other renewable energy projects in India and overseas. It also provided opportunities to explore sustainability, storage, E-mobility, and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) compliant projects. Now, MoU assumes doubling the renewable energy capacity targets to 60 GW by 2032 by NTCP last month. The onshore wind turbine efficiency is up to 25%, while the offshore efficiency is 50-60%, which is more efficient than onshore wind turbine efficiency given limited land resources and safety aspects, a senior official said. Considering the 7,600 km long coastline and the expertise of ONGC in handling the operations, the association can bring a sea change in the part of clean energy, the official said. According to the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), offshore wind turbines are much larger (5-10 MW per turbine) compared to onshore wind turbines (2-3 MW per turbine). MNRE targeted to set up 5 GW of offshore wind energy installations by 2022 and 30 GW by 2030. The wind resources assessment by the National Institute of Wind Energy (NIWE) gives the total wind energy potential at 302 GW at a hub height of 100 meters. Out of the total wind energy potential, over 95% of commercially exploitable wind resources are concentrated in Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Tamil Nadu. Image Source Also read: Hybrid, solar and wind energy projects of 9 GW to be set up soon Also read: Wind energy sector in India to see 50% growth in the next five years