The event was organized and hosted by the Centre of Excellence for Offshore Wind and RE with high-level participation from the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), National Institute of Wind Energy (NIWE), the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) and the Danish Energy Agency (DEA).
The FIMOI LCOE tool dissemination workshop commenced with opening remarks by DEA Deputy Director-General, Mr. Martin Hansen, followed by special addresses from MNRE Joint Secretary Shri Dinesh Jagdale, and NIWE Deputy Director-General Shri Dr. Rajesh Katyal. In his speech, Mr Martin Hansen underlined that:
“Danish experience shows that investor or market dialogue helps create the optimal conditions for an auction and lower costs due to a better understanding of the risk split between developers, investors, and the government. India has ambitious renewable energy targets, including the goal of 30 GW of offshore wind by 2030. I hope this FIMOI project be a stepping stone for these ambitious goals.”
-Mr Martin Hansen, Deputy Director-General of the Danish Energy Agency
Following from this, Dr Rajesh Katyal from NIWE appreciated the joint initiative by DEA and NIWE with active support of MNRE for Financial Modelling of Offshore Wind in India (FIMOI). It was underligned that the project will provide the benchmark cost for the tariff-based bids for offshore wind in India and aid in formulating the Government policy for the first offshore wind projects in the country. Since the FIMOI is a dynamic tool it can be updated based on the outcome of the first projects installed in India, which will pave the way forward for fostering the growth of offshore wind development in the country.
This was supported by Shri Dinesh Jagdale who said that:
“The Danish Energy Agency has been at the forefront of providing the knowledge and experience gained over the past many years and bringing that value that we can take forward and reaching 30 GW by 2030. We believe that time is appropriate to consider that offshore wind has an immense potential for all of us. When we discussed the offshore wind paper with most of the international developers, I saw a lot of interest been generated for investing in Offshore Wind Sector .”
Shri Dinesh Jagdale, Joint Secretary, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy
The inaugurating speeches was followed by a presentation from the FIMOI Project Leader, Mr. Søren Hansen, who provide an overview of the calculations and findings on the projected costs for offshore wind in India. He introduced the FIMOI tool, demonstrating the benefits and how it could be used, not just by Government of India stakeholders, but also by industry looking towards offshore wind in India.
The FIMOI tool provides the opportunity to estimate potential subsidy and energy prices (LCOE) under a transparent set of scenarios and assumptions, which can be adjusted by the user. This is focused for offshore wind projects in Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, whether you are looking at investment subsidies or in the form of per unit generation based incentive schemes (GBI). The accompanying FIMOI report reveals that India can realize a trajectory of significant future cost reductions for offshore wind once the first projects are built.
The event wrapped up with a dynamic panel discussion, with representatives on the panel from MNRE and IREDA, but also from industry with the developer perspective of RWE, and the supply chain perspective of Vestas. Feedback from industry participants clearly indicated that the updated FIMOI report and the FIMOI tool will be very beneficial. The event clearly showcased the interest and willingness to develop the offshore wind sector in India. A shared optimism that India is on the right track in developing an offshore wind market.
Interested to learn more? You can find the full FIMOI report as well as the FIMOI LCOE and VGF tool here: