Where do our renewables stand and how was the market earlier?
With its wide network and resource availability, India is currently well-placed. Wind energy has emerged as the best option for grid-connected power. The private sector accounts for almost 97 per cent of the total installed wind power capacity of more than 3,600 mw . Globally as well, wind is the fastest growing among renewable energy (re) sources and has an installed capacity of over 45,000 megawatts (mw)in 50 countries. More than 60,000 wind turbines power 14 million households or 35 million people.

There is a lot of propaganda that renewables are dependent on subsidies and not very cost-effective?
Fully functional independent markets for re technologies are a myth. Even conventional sources of energy initially required government support and enjoyed subtle subsidies like investments in ports, railroads, heavy industry and other public sector infrastructure. Similarly, government support to re will be needed until it can grow to better cost competitiveness.

The industry's installed capacity in 1994-1995 was about 350 mw. With direct and indirect tax concessions, the wind-generated electricity sector grew rapidly between 1995 and 1997. By the end of 1997, India achieved an installed capacity of 900 mw. But once fiscal concessions were scaled down, the growth rate came down sharply. Realising this, the government gave new incentives and installed capacity grew back to 120 mw in 1999-2000 and was over 600 mw capacity in 2003-2004. Still, given our wind power potential of 45,000 mw, this growth rate is not very satisfactory.

What are the main policy shortfalls?
Policy initiatives have tended to come in spurts. Also, power is a concurrent subject; states and the Centre have to work in tandem. Central policies have had limited implementation at the state level and even where re policies have been announced, there have been delays in their execution. Wind power installation is especially slow in states where state electricity boards