India's new wind energy norms require local sourcing and data control

India has introduced strict norms for manufacturers of wind turbine equipment, which require them to source their key components locally and adhere to strict rules on data localisation.

In a late-night notification, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy announced that manufacturers must only purchase components such as blades and towers and gearboxes and special bearings, from approved vendors on a newly created government list.

MNRE will form a technical team to carry out the inspections. A separate standard operating procedures will also be released.

In a separate notification, it was stated that the list of approved models and manufacturers would be published by the Ministry.

The directive also requires that all wind-turbine data be stored in India and prohibits the real-time transfer of operational data abroad. It also requires that operational control centres and research and development centers be located within India within a year.

According to government statistics, the move is aimed at promoting the domestic wind turbine industry, which has a capacity of 20 GW per year.

India's goal is to double its current non-fossil energy capacity (including hydro and nuclear) from 235.6 GW by 2030.

The notification stated that certain projects are exempt, including those with a short-term or bid-out time frame. New models, however, have a cap of 800 MW for two years, and are required to submit quarterly reports.

This move will benefit Indian wind equipment manufacturers like Suzlon Energy and Inox Wind. It is a blow to China's Envision Group which has a dominant position in the Indian market. Reporting by Sethuraman NR, Editing by Harikrishnan Nair

(source: Reuters)