Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy, Education and Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Pralhad Joshi inaugurated the 8th edition of ‘Windergy India 2026’ in the city on Thursday.
Pralhad Joshi said that India’s wind energy sector has demonstrated strong momentum, with the highest-ever annual installation of 6.05GW achieved in FY2026. This continued growth will strengthen the foundation for achieving our national ambition of 100GW of installed wind energy capacity by 2030 and further accelerate the development of India’s wind energy sector.
Chennai: Union minister for new and renewable energy, education and consumer affairs, food and public distribution Pralhad Joshi urged the TN govt to speed up approvals for renewable projects and said the industry should not suffer though withholding of permissions could be for a genuine reasons. “The grant of connectivity should not be delayed, even though you may have valid reasons to doubt approvals given by the previous govt, because ultimately the industry suffers,” he said in the presence of state electricity minister C T R Nirmal Kumar. Stating that that the union govt would support any state working on renewable energy, the union minister said the Centre was working on ways to repower ageing windmills to augment the installed capacity. “In Tamil Nadu, old windmills with less than 2MW capacity with a cumulative capacity of 700MW is due for repowering,” the minister pointed out.
Speaking the inauguration of eighth edition of Windergy, an expo of wind mill and supporting equipment manufacturers from all over the world, the union minister indirectly referred to the state govt’s decision to review all approvals accorded by the previous govt for solar and wind projects in Tamil Nadu . “We are confident that annual wind energy installations will surpass this record in FY2027, marking another important milestone in India’s wind energy journey.
It is essential to plan now, keeping long-term requirements in mind, so that there will be no need to expand the power transmission infrastructure again in the future,” he said.
State electricity and law minister C T R Nirmal Kumar said the TVK govt was functioning in a transparent and industry-friendly manner and appealed to the union minister for the expansion of the Green Energy Corridor (GC3) infrastructure to more parts of Tamil Nadu. “If the corridor is expanded over the next four to five years, Tamil Nadu will have the opportunity to achieve three to four times greater growth than the renewable energy growth currently anticipated.