The development of wind power in India began in the 1986 with first wind farms being set up in coastal areas of Maharasahtra (Ratnagiri), Gujarat (Okha) and Tamil Nadu (Tuticorin) with 55 kW Vestas wind turbines. These demonstration projects were supported by the Minstry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE). The capacity has significantly increased in the last few years and as of 31 Aug 2016 the installed capacity of wind power in India was 27,676.55 MW, mainly spread across the South, West and North regions. Although a relative newcomer to the wind industry, compared with countries such as Denmark or the United States, by year end 2015 India had the fourth largest installed wind power capacity in the world behind 1. China, 2. USA and 3. Germany), having overtaken 5. Spain in 2015 and ahead of 6. UK. The potential for wind farms in the country was first assessed by Dr. Jami Hossain using a GIS platform to be more than 2,000 GW in 2011. This was subsequently re validated by Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory, US (LBNL) in an independent study in 2012.

As a result, the MNRE set up a committee to reassess the potential and through the National Institute of Wind Energy (NIWE, previously C-WET) has announced a revised estimation of the potential wind resource in India from 49,130 MW to 302,000 MW assessed at 100m Hub height. The wind resource at higher Hub heights that are prevailing is possibly even more. In the year 2015, the MNRE set the target for Wind Power generation capacity by the year 2022 at 60,000 MW. East and North east regions have no grid connected wind power plant as of March 2015. No offshore wind farm utilizing traditional fixed-bottom wind turbine technologies inshallow sea areas or floating wind turbine technologies in deep sea areas are under implementation. However, an Offshore Wind Policy was announced in 2015 and presently weather stations and LIDARs are being set up by NIWE at some locations.