New Delhi, Aug 24 (PTI) India can add another 23.7GW of wind energy capacity in the next five years, according to a study.

Global Wind Energy Council and MEC Intelligence (MEC) on Wednesday released the report titled "Renewing wind growth to power the energy transition: India Wind Energy Market Outlook 2026".

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According to a statement, the third annual edition looking at the wind energy outlook in India highlights wind energy's critical link to India's green energy transition.

The outlook suggests that the country can add another 23.7 GW of capacity within the next five years, provided necessary enabling policies, facilitative instruments, and the right institutional interventions are put in place, it added.

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"This outlook is published as the world faces a decisive moment; there is a narrow window of opportunity to halt the irreversible damage to this planet from climate change by making an urgent shift to clean energy. India can seize this opportunity, but it must kick-start its energy transition after delays due to the pandemic," Ben Backwell, CEO of GWEC, said.

To seize this enormous opportunity, India must focus on three areas: a dialogue between the central government and the states to foster consensus building; delivery to help match timelines and targets, and the potential for India to be a destination for the global wind manufacturers and suppliers, as per the study.

Wind power constituted the majority of the renewable energy mix in India, with 37.7 per cent of cumulative installed capacity as of March 2022, it added.

However, the overall estimated potential dwarfs the current installed capacity. There is over 600 GW of onshore capacity at 120m hub height, with another 174 GW of fixed-bottom and floating offshore wind potential.

These statistics demonstrate that there is a huge untapped wind energy potential that will be crucial for advancing the country's clean energy transition, it noted.

"If India is to achieve its climate goals set at COP26, it must harness the full potential of its enormous wind capacity, including offshore, at an accelerated pace. We can do it. But to get there, it has to be an all-hands-on-deck, literally non-stop, collaborative and flexible effort from policymakers to clean energy firms to investors to innovators to communities to academia to multilateral lenders -- from today, for the next few decades.

"Nothing less will do if we are to ensure that the clean energy transition is successful so our future generations can literally breathe easier and inhabit a liveable planet," stated Sumant Sinha, Chairperson GWEC India; and founder, Chairman and CEO ReNew Power Private Ltd.

The outlook finds that the market in India has been affected by the pandemic, with the second wave of COVID-19 in the country, coupled with global supply chain challenges causing disruption.

However, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) took several measures at this time.

For example, the ministry granted a blanket timeline extension, which pushed the 0.7 GW of delayed projects to 2022, it stated.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)