Denmark has announced its Wind Alliance India (WAI) initiative in a bid to boost collaborative efforts between the two countries in the sustainable energy solutions sector and advance their joint global goal towards net neutrality.

This announcement by the Embassy of Denmark in India comes during the Windergy India 2023 summit in Chennai, in which Denmark is a Green Strategic Partner country. WAI is a strategic initiative that aims to drive innovation, knowledge exchange, and investments to propel the growth of wind energy in India, promoting clean and renewable energy sources.

Leading Danish and Indian organisations, including Vestas Wind Technology India Pvt. Ltd., Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, LAUTEC, Baettr India Pvt. Ltd., The Confederation of Danish Industry, Danish Chamber of Commerce, Indo Danish Chamber of Commerce, Danish Energy Agency, Global Wind Energy Council, State of Green, and Indian Wind Turbines Manufacturing Association (IWTMA) are founding partners along with the Embassy of Denmark in India. The initiative comes at an opportune time as India massively pushes towards achieving carbon neutrality by 2070. Meanwhile, Denmark is also on the path to reducing carbon emissions by 70 per cent by 2030 and achieving net neutrality by 2050, as per its Global Climate Action Strategy.

WAI is a demonstrative of activities under the Green Strategic Partnership signed in 2020 between India and Denmark, which seeks to deliver on both countries’ ambitious climate and sustainable energy goals.

The Danish Ambassador to India H.E. Freddy Svane hopes that alliances like these will further boost our joint commitment for a greener planet.

“As the world goes green renewables become more and more important. India’s energy demand will triple in the near future, and all sources of energy must be harnessed. Wind is an important energy resource. Now it is time to get out of the present standstill. From repowering to near-shore and hopefully offshore. Nice words must be replaced with real action,” said Svane.

While positioning India as a strong market for investment in the wind energy sector, the WAI initiative will seek to foster collaboration between relevant Danish and Indian industries, businesses, government bodies, research institutions, and financial stakeholders.

Founding members including Vestas Wind Technology India Pvt. Ltd. foresee WAI as a promising platform for boosting India’s wind ambitions.

“India has an ambition to become a net zero economy by 2070 and install 500 GW of renewable energy by 2030 of which wind will contribute 140 GW. WAI will mainly focus on onshore, nearshore, repowering and offshore wind keeping in mind the Indo-Danish Green Strategic Partnership of leveraging scale of India and skill of Denmark. Indeed, a welcome step. We wish WAI all the success to make a distinct mark in Indian wind sector,” said Mr Amar Harishchandra Variawa, Vice President and Country Head, Business Development and Public Affairs, Vestas Wind Technology India Pvt. Ltd.

For Indian partners like IWTMA, the alliance exemplifies the continuing cooperation between India and Denmark.

“The Wind Alliance India will further foster the development of India’s emerging offshore wind sector, technology cooperation, skilling and job creation. We will be creating a new history after the initial cooperation from DANIDA three decades back,” said Mr DV Giri, Secretary General, IWTMA.

WAI invites applications for membership from Danish and Indian partners operating in the wind energy sector, with an interest in advancing the wind energy landscape in both India and Denmark.

Activities under this initiative will include and are not limited to:

• exclusive periodic updates on regulatory, market and project developments
• briefing sessions with decision-makers in Indian government, academia and industries
• conferences, seminars and events with partners and potential partners
• exclusive matchmaking sessions with selected Indian stakeholders

Interested parties can contact Suresh Mugalivakam Subramaniam, Head of Energy, Trade Council of Denmark, Consulate General of Denmark in Bangalore at [email protected].