Govt to double wind power generation by 2022

The government plans to double wind power generation capacity to over 20,000 MW by 2022 to promote use of renewable resources. The current installed power capacity from renewable sources of energy stands at about 13,300 MW, of which 10,500 MW comes from wind power. The government plans to double wind power generation in the country over the next decade. "Currently, wind power generation in the country stands at about 10,500 MW. We will double this capacity by 2022 and try to triple it," Minister for New and Renewable Energy Farooq Abdullah told reporters on the sidelines of an Assocham event. Meanwhile, the government has set a target of adding 1,300 MW of solar power by the end of the current XIth Five Year Plan (2007-12). "We have to add 1,300 MW solar (power) in the next three years...Time is less we have to do it fast," Abdullah said. The government recently said it has approved setting up of 20,000 MW grid solar power and 2,000 MW off-grid solar power by 2022 under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission. The mission aims to develop solar technologies for making solar power competitive to conventional grid power and install 20 million square metre solar thermal collective area by 2022.