Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: New and Renewable Energy Minister Pralhad Joshi and the UK’s Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy launched the India–UK Offshore Wind Taskforce on February 18.
British High Commissioner to India Lindy Cameron was also present on the occasion.
Describing the India–UK Offshore Wind Taskforce as a working mechanism rather than a symbolic platform, Joshi said it has been constituted under Vision 2035 and the Fourth Energy Dialogue to provide strategic leadership and coordination for India’s offshore wind ecosystem.
While the United Kingdom has demonstrated global leadership in scaling offshore wind and developing mature supply chains, India brings scale, long-term demand and a rapidly expanding clean energy ecosystem, he observed. Calling the Taskforce a “trustforce”, Joshi said it reflects the confidence that India and the United Kingdom can work together to address real execution challenges. He urged that the platform deliver time-bound workstreams, measurable milestones and visible progress, converting global lessons into solutions tailored to Indian conditions.
He outlined three practical pillars for cooperation: ecosystem planning and market design, including refined seabed leasing frameworks and credible revenue-certainty mechanisms; infrastructure and supply chains, including port modernisation, local manufacturing and specialised vessels; and financing and risk mitigation through blended finance structures and mobilisation of long-term institutional capital.
The minister emphasised that the next phase of India’s transition must strengthen reliability, grid stability, industrial depth and energy security, and that offshore wind has a strategic role in this journey. Promising offshore wind zones have been identified off the coasts of Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, along with grid planning and required studies and surveys have been conducted through the National Institute of Wind Energy for the initial projects.
