Rajasthan: RRECL Shuns Plan To Freeze Land For Wind Energy Projects

The Rajasthan Renewable Energy Corporation Limited (RRECL) has now issued a circular, reversing its earlier decision to freeze land for wind and wind-hybrid power projects in the state. The agency had earlier, on May 5, 2025, issued a procedure-cum-guidelines document for the implementation of wind/hybrid power projects in the state.

As per the earlier norms, the state agency was involved in freezing lands for the coordinates that were favorable for good generation of wind energy. The department, through this action, is now trying to withdraw from this exercise and intends to keep the task related to land acquisition limited to developers and landowners.

This comes after several practical issues arose from the exercise. After the department started freezing the favorable windy sites based on coordinates, farmers from such regions did not get ample time to negotiate a fair price for their land and viewed it as a harsh and forced step toward their properties.

“Procedure-cum-Guidelines for Implementation of Wind/Hybrid Power Projects in the State” issued vide Rajkaj Ref. No. 15025454 dated 02.05.2025 is revoked with immediate effect, and any such coordinates that were frozen consequent to this order are released/unfrozen with immediate effect,” the notification from RRECL read.

It also added that no wind turbine generator coordinates will be registered/acknowledged by RRECL at the time of project registration or subsequently on private land.

“RRECL will not check the overlapping of WTG coordinates on private land with registered projects. It shall be the duty of the developer to ensure the required clearance/separation with existing WTGs for fulfillment of MNRE guidelines and similar orders issued from time to time (related to 5D/7D distances to be maintained),” the order added.

In another order, RRECL issued the list of 11 developers against whom these land parcels were frozen for a period of six months. These are now unfrozen. Most of these projects were based in Barmer, Jaisalmer, Jalore, Nagaur, Jodhpur, and Jhalawar districts. Industry thinks that such a move could give undue benefits to a few developers and hurt the prospects of their competitors in terms of potential windy sites in the state.