Tamil Nadu Targets India's First Offshore Wind Farm After Onshore Slowdown

Tamil Nadu, which set up India's first commercial wind farms in 1986 and developed the country's largest onshore wind farm at Muppandal with 1.5 GW capacity, is now pursuing India's first offshore wind installations after ceding its long-held lead in onshore wind to Gujarat around 2023. The state currently holds 12.1 GW of installed wind capacity and ranks fourth nationally in total renewable capacity at approximately 27.2 GW as of January 2026.

Tamil Nadu's wind energy growth from the early 1990s through 2017 was powered by a feed-in tariff regime under which renewable generators could sell electricity at Rs 2-4 per unit to the state grid. The state introduced energy banking for wind as early as 1986, allowing captive generators to credit surplus units to the grid and draw them later — effectively providing virtual storage that attracted developers and industrial buyers. A 2017 shift to competitive reverse auctions dropped tariffs sharply, while payment delays by electricity distribution companies of up to three years compounded uncertainty and slowed new project development.

Tamil Nadu's geographic advantage — consistent monsoon winds funnelled through the Western Ghats ridges on the southern tip of India — gave it a structural advantage no policy alone could replicate. Between the early 1990s and early 2010s, the state was central to India adding 1.8-2.5 GW of wind capacity annually. The Danish International Development Agency, in partnership with Tamil Nadu Energy Development Agency and the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, installed 110 pilot wind turbines across the state between 1985 and 1992, laying the technical foundation for the subsequent commercial expansion.

Tamil Nadu Electricity Board chairperson J Radhakrishnan described the current period as a pause or lull, with the state preparing for a new phase anchored in offshore wind. Francis Jayasurya of the Global Wind Energy Council noted that the tariff and payment disruptions after 2017 created a period of stagnation that Gujarat's more aggressive policy environment was able to exploit. Tamil Nadu's offshore wind ambitions, if realised, would mark a new technological frontier for Indian renewable energy and reassert the state's historical role as a pioneer in wind power development.

Key figure — 12.1 GW installed wind capacity in Tamil Nadu as of January 2026