Offshore Wind

After the success of onshore wind power programme, Indian government has decided to encourage the development of offshore wind in the country due to the presence of 7500 km long coastline. The MNRE has declared medium- and long-term target for off-shore wind power capacity additions, which are 5 GW by 2022 and 30 GW by 2030.
In October 2015, the ministry came out with the National Off-Shore Wind Policy to take advantage of offshore wind power potential in the Indian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) along the Indian coastline. National Institute of Wind Energy (NIWE) is in the phase of conducting offshore wind potential studies and initial studies have revealed good potential on the coasts of Tamilnadu and Gujarat. For precise wind quality measurements, one LiDAR has been installed near Gujarat coast, which is generating data about the quality of off-shore wind since November, 2017. 

Encouraged by the quality of off-shore wind, a private sector player has also installed LiDAR in Gulf of Kutch in Gujarat for offshore wind resource measurements. Plans are afoot to install more of such equipments in Tamil Nadu and Gujarat. Surveys to understand the oceanographic and sea bed condition within identified zones off the coast of Gujarat and Tamil Nadu have been also planned. 
NIWE has proposed the first ever competitive bidding process for the establishment of First Offshore Wind Project for India (FOWPI) which would be of capacity around 1 GW in the Gulf of Khambhat, Gujarat.