2018 Indian Renewable Energy Sector Outlook

Digitalisation of services, innovation in tower and blade technologies aimed towards making unviable wind sites viable, ensuring better yield and increasing turbine utilisation will be the key focus areas.
Tulsi Tanti, Chairman and Managing Director, Suzlon Energy

2017 was a watershed year for the renewable energy industry in India with significant policy reforms such as competitive bidding in wind, record low wind and solar tariffs and GST roll-out. In addition to this, technological advancement and increased competition are steering new possibilities for clean energy.

In India, investors are bullish and excited to be part of the renewable growth story. While the wind industry’s transition to the bidding regime created short-term challenges in 2017, it has laid the foundation for sustainable and inclusive sector growth. Wind industry is poised to grow to about 8 to 10 GW annually, with 5 to 6 GW annual bidding from the central government level, 3 to 4 GW capacity auctions from the nine windy states and 1 GW capacity expected from the PSU and captive markets. This will pave the way to unlock 300 GW wind energy potential in India and harness the latent potential of non-windy states.

Technology and innovation will remain the catalyst that will drive renewable energy growth. Digitalisation of services, innovation in tower and blade technologies aimed towards making unviable wind sites viable, ensuring better yield and increasing turbine utilisation will be the key focus areas. The industry will collaborate further to improve the supply chain, enable grid integration and leverage digital technologies.

Suzlon’s key priorities
Leverage innovation and technology to bring down LCOE (levelized cost of electricity).
Further strengthen its capital structure.
Remain cost competitive, by leveraging India as the manufacturing hub, to increase market share.