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Wind Energy

The need of the hour is to find sources of renewable or virtually inexhaustible energy as the present natural sources of energy fossil fuels and coal are being depleted. By the use of these energy sources we are polluting the environment due to which Ozone layer is becoming thin day by day causing threat of infiltration of UV rays.

The sources like fusion involve the generation of large amounts of waste heat which is causing stress on ecosystem.

Hence, we have to go for alternate source of energy that is renewable and pollution free and the topic of the section is Wind energy.

Wind energy is a natural form of energy that can be generated where the wind speed is more than 12 m/sec.

Wind energy is pollution free which does not involve deforestation / submergence of valuable lands without disturbing the flora & fauna of the land. The gestation period for execution of these projects is less and, cost of wind energy projects are comparable with conventional type of energy projects.

Limitations of Wind energy projects are:

Dependent on the direction and speed of the wind.
Energy produced to be stored.

India is the fifth largest wind power producer in the world after Germany, the USA, Denmark and Spain, with a wind power generation capacity of 1870 MW, of which 1805 MW has come through commercial projects.

The gross wind energy potential in India has been estimated at 45,000 MW. However, the technical potential is limited to about 13,000 MW.

Wind is one of the largest Resource in the country, based on mean annual wind power density (MAWPD).

The Wind Resource Assessment Programme (WRAP) carried out in India to assess the wind potential is one of the largest programmes of this kind in the world covering around 1000 wind monitoring and mapping stations in 25 states and union territories. This programme is being implemented by the state nodal agencies (SNAs) and C-WET through the Wind Energy Survey Project. WRAP has so far identified 208 potential sites in 13 states.

States with high wind power potential are Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. About 11.3 billion units of electricity have been fed to various state grids from wind power projects. Almost 80% of the power thus generated has been used for captive consumption, and the rest sold to the grid or to a third party.

Some 30 project sites have been developed in the high potential states under the Demonstration Programme, resulting in a capacity of 65 MW.

About a dozen domestic companies are manufacturing wind power turbines and components, achieving an annual turnover of Rs 1,500 crore. Wind electric generators ranging from 55 to 1250 kW rating have been developed and manufactured in the country by using the latest technologies.

State-of-the-art wind power technologies are now indigenously available in India. An annual production capacity of 500 MW has been established. Wind electric generators up to 1250 kW unit capacity are now being manufactured. Blades, a crucial component of wind turbines, is manufactured in India. Nearly 80 per cent indigenisation has been achieved.

A project on the "Development of an Intelligent Power Controller for Wind Electric Generators (WEGs)" has been undertaken by the Electronics Research & Development Centre (ERDC), at Thiruvananthapuram to maximise generation and reduce reactive power requirements of WEGs. The Controller has been fabricated and field tested.

A project on "Power Quality and Integration of Wind Farms in the Grid" has been taken up jointly by ERDC, Thiruvananthapuram, in collaboration with institutions from Denmark to prepare guidelines for the integration of wind turbines with weak grids. The guidelines have been circulated to the potential states.

Cost Economics

Capital cost of wind power projects ranges from Rs 4.5-5.5 crore per MW.
Cost of generation is estimated to be Rs 2.25-2.75 per kWh (depending upon the site).
These costs compare favourably with new conventional power projects.
There is the added advantage of short gestation, and modularity of systems.
The costs are expected to decline and profitability increase with technology improvements, and increase in size of turbines, and optimal planning and site selection.
A cost ceiling of Rs 3.5 crore/MW has been fixed for the determination of MNES support to state government projects.

Courtesy: MNCS(Ministry of Non-conventional Energy Sources) http://mnes.nic.in