Ministry
of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE) issued draft guidelines for development of
onshore wind power projects in May 2016. After consultation with stakeholders
MNRE issued final Guidelines on 22 October 2016. This was stated by Shri Piyush
Goyal, Minister of State (IC) for Power, Coal, New & Renewable Energy and
Mines in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.
Main
features of these Guidelines are:
i)
Free
availability of time series data from all the wind masts installed through
Government funding.
ii) Provision
to discourage land squatting.
iii) Installation
of international quality wind turbines.
iv) Micrositing
criteria relaxed. Safe distance prescribed for Public Roads, railway tracks,
highways, buildings, public institutions and Extra High Voltage lines from wind
turbine.
v) Wind
turbine to comply grid regulations.
vi) Mandatory
to install Availability Based Tariff (ABT) compliant meter with
telecommunication facility to enable implementation of Forecasting and
scheduling (F&S) Regulation.
vii)Creation
of an online registry of wind turbines installed in the country and submission
of monthly performance report.
viii)
Prescribing criteria for noise and shadow flicker to ensure health and safety
of people working/residing near the wind farm.
ix) Provisions
for Hybridisation and repowering.
x) Submission
of Decommissioning Plan at the proposal stage itself.
Shri Goyal further said that the
Guidelines will facilitate development of wind projects in an efficient,
cost-effective and environmentally benign manner. The various ways in which
these guidelines will be able to perform such tasks are:
i) Clear
timelines for completion of project after getting land use permission will
prevent squatting of land.
ii) With
free availability of time series data the investors/lenders can estimate wind
power generation at a particular site from a wind turbine model. This will
bring more transparency in the sector.
iii) More
wind capacity in a given area allowed with improved micrositing techniques.
iv) Mandatory
installation of ABT compliant meter with telecommunication facility for F&S
will reduce wind power uncertainty and thus reduce backing down and also enable
online monitoring.
v) Prescribing
criteria for noise and shadow flicker will ensure health and safety aspects of
people working/residing near the wind farm.
vi) Proper
Decommissioning of the wind turbines
RM/PS