India, United Kingdom Launch Offshore Wind Task Force

• India-UK offshore wind task force launched to guide strategic development
• Cooperation pillars are market design, infrastructure, and financing
• India’s 70 GW potential: initial projects in Gujarat & Tamil Nadu, supported by AI for grid stability

The New and Renewable Energy Minister Pralhad Joshi and British Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy established an offshore wind energy development task force in India recently.

The India UK offshore wind initiative has established an offshore wind task force under the broader India UK energy partnership and Vision 2035 to advance renewable energy cooperation, foster clean energy India UK initiatives, promote wind energy collaboration, accelerate the energy transition, support offshore wind development, and strengthen the overall green energy partnership between the two nations.

The initiative has been established to provide strategic guidance through the India-UK Vision 2035 framework and the Fourth Energy Dialogue, which will enable India to develop its offshore wind energy capacity.

Joshi explained that the United Kingdom possesses worldwide expertise for developing offshore wind energy while establishing its supply chains, but India provides substantial market requirements and its clean energy industry is expanding rapidly, while its market needs will continue into the future.

The task force needs to establish time-based work arrangements which will produce specific achievement points and actual development results to create solutions that will work for India by using international knowledge.

Also Read: India Expands AI, Telecom Partnership with UK, ITU Support

He presented three main cooperative elements, which include ecosystem planning and market design through enhanced seabed leasing frameworks and revenue-certainty mechanisms; infrastructure and supply chain development, which includes port upgrades and domestic production and specialized vessel needs; and financing and risk reduction through blended finance systems and long-term institutional capital fundraising.

Lammy noted that the UK is the world’s second-largest offshore wind market and recently held Europe’s largest auction, which generated 8.4 GW of new capacity. He considered the task force to be essential for driving India's first offshore wind projects forward.

Officials explained that offshore wind energy production delivers high-quality power because sea winds blow at strong speeds without any hindrances but offshore wind projects need higher financial investment than other renewable energy sources. India has an estimated 70 GW offshore wind potential with initial projects planned off the coasts of Gujarat and Tamil Nadu.

Joshi spoke at the AI Impact Summit about how AI-driven technologies should be integrated to achieve better grid stability which helps control power fluctuations that result from changing weather conditions in solar and wind energy production.