Parliament Question: Wind Energy Potential in Tamil Nadu

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF NEW AND RENEWABLE ENERGY LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1630 ANSWERED ON 29.07.2026 WIND ENERGY POTENTIAL IN TAMIL NADU

1630. SHRI NAVASKANI K:

Will the Minister of NEW AND RENEWABLE ENERGY be pleased to state:

(a) whether the Government is aware that Tamil Nadu being one of the leading wind energy producing States has significant potential for repowering old wind turbines and expanding offshore and onshore wind capacity and if so, the details thereof;

(b) the details of wind energy capacity installed in Tamil Nadu during the last five years, year-wise along with the additional capacity targeted by the year 2030;

(c) whether any special financial assistance, viability gap funding, transmission infrastructure support and incentives have been provided or proposed for Tamil Nadu to facilitate achievement of the national target of 100 GW wind energy by the year 2030 and 155 GW by the year 2035 and if so, the details thereof;

(d) whether the Government has assessed issues relating to grid curtailment, evacuation constraints and delayed payments affecting wind energy producers in Tamil Nadu; and

(e) if so, the corrective measures taken by the Government in this regard? ANSWER THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR NEW & RENEWABLE ENERGY AND POWER (SHRI SHRIPAD YESSO NAIK)

(a) As per the wind resource assessment carried out by the National Institute of Wind Energy

(NIWE), the estimated onshore wind power potential in Tamil Nadu is 95.1 GW at 150 m hub height. In addition, Government has identified through mesoscale studies 8 offshore wind zones off the coast of Tamil Nadu having potential of 31 GW capacity.

As on 30.06.2026, the installed capacity of wind energy projects in Tamil Nadu is 12.27 GW.

Considering replacement of wind turbines with individual capacities up to 2 MW, Tamil Nadu has an estimated repowering potential of about 7.3 GW.

(b) The details of wind energy capacity installed in Tamil Nadu during the last five years are placed as Annexure-I.

In line with Hon’ble Prime Minister’s announcement at COP26, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy is intended to achieve 500 GW of installed electricity capacity from non- fossil fuel sources including wind energy by 2030. As per the Report on optimal generation capacity mix for 2029-30 version 2.0 published by CEA, 100 GW of total wind capacity by FY 2029-30 has been envisaged for all wind potential sites of India.

(c) Presently, the development of onshore wind projects carried out by private developers/public sector enterprises based on techno-economic assessment. There is no central financial assistance scheme for new onshore wind power projects. However, Government has launched the 'Viability Gap Funding (VGF) scheme for offshore wind energy projects' with total outlay of ₹ 7453 crore for installation and commissioning of 1 GW of offshore windenergy projects (500 MW each off the coast of Gujarat and Tamil Nadu) and upgradation of two ports to meet logistics requirements for offshore wind energy projects.

(d) &(e) Grid curtailment and evacuation transmission delay is one of the challenges in development of wind power capacity in the country including Tamil Nadu. In order to facilitate the grid infrastructure development, Government has taken following initiatives;

• Government had declared 625.3 GW of Renewable Energy (RE) potential in the RE rich states including Tamil Nadu. • Central Electricity Authority (CEA) has prepared the Transmission System Plan for Integration of over 500 GW Renewable Energy Capacity by 2030.

• Under the Intra-State Transmission System Green Energy Corridor Phase I & II, the total targeted RE evacuation capacity was 43 GW, of which 29 GW of RE had been evacuated as on 30.06.2026.

In order to facilitate timely payment to developers, Government has issued Electricity (Late Payment Surcharge and Related Matters) Rules, 2022. Further under the REIAs Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs), a mechanism of State Government Guarantee/ Tri-Partite Agreement (TPA) signed between Reserve Bank of India, Central Government and State Government of the Buying Entity is in place for covering security for payment of energy charges.

***** Annexure I Details of wind energy capacity installed in Tamil Nadu during the last five years S. No. Financial Year Annual Wind Capacity Addition

(MW) 1 2021-22 258.32 2 2022-23 150.8 3 2023-24 586.37 4 2024-25 1136.37 5 2025-26 407.32 6 2026-27 (till 126.45

30.06.2026)