French energy company ENGIE said it teamed up with an investment group to help develop a wind energy program in India, one of the world's fastest growing economies.
The company formed a partnership with the Abraaj investment group to develop as much as 1 gigawatt of wind power in the Indian energy sector.
"Energy demand is growing tremendously in India, and ENGIE is investing in green energy sources as part of supporting the country with its sustainable development plans," Sébastien Arbola, the regional CEO of ENGIE," said in a statement.
The French company estimates power consumption in India will grow at an annual rate of 9 percent through 2020. To meet the demand, the government set ambitious goals for a low-carbon economy.
India is No. 4 in the world in terms of new solar power and for cumulative wind power capacity. As a party to the Paris climate agreement, the country could triple its renewable power capacity by 2022 to 175 gigawatts by drawing on new solar and wind energy sources.
"The Indian renewables sector has seen strong growth in recent times and we expect demand for power across the country will continue to increase," Saad Zaman, an Abraaj partner, said.
Indian Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said in mid-July that expanding domestic oil and gas developments, including shale reserves, and coal-bed methane could help the country achieve its goals of cutting back on imports by as much as 10 percent.
Moody's Investors Service said in a quarterly publication that, as the economy expands, growth will continue in the renewable energy market in India.
"However, Moody's also sees challenges for renewable energy projects, notably weak offtaker credit quality and an evolving regulatory framework, as well as financing and execution risks, and aggressive bidding," the ratings agency said.
Finding better wind energy potential with the new European Wind Atlas
Over the last 25 years, the world has seen an increased dependency on wind energy that promises to continue growing. This has created an ever-evolving process to develop a method that can accurately assess a region's wind energy potential. The most-used assessment methods today are based on the European Wind Atlas through the use of the Wind Atlas Analysis and Application Program (WAsP).
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