Construction of Wind energy Farms is on the rise worldwide. India is facing continuous energy crisis.?
Answer:
Wind Energy Farms In India :
With global oil prices touching $60 a barrel, the time for alternative energy, and in particular wind energy, has come. According to Dr. Anil Kane, chairman of the Indian Wind Energy Association, one of the fastest growing sectors in India is wind energy. At the rate at which new wind energy farms are being set up in India, he says that in less than two years electricity generated from wind will exceed 5,000 MW.
Currently, India has an installed capacity from wind energy of 3,595 MW of which 61 per cent is in Tamil Nadu. Dr. Kane says that Tamil Nadu has a double advantage as it gets wind from the south-west and the north-east. As a result, a 1 MW machine in Tamil Nadu can generate 35-lakh units a year as compared to 20-lakh units in a State like Maharashtra, which stands second in India for wind energy generation.
Cost recovery
Although the initial costs of wind energy are high, working out to Rs. 4.5 crores to 5 crores per MW, Dr. Kane says that the costs can be recovered in 10 years as 90 per cent of the cost of generation is the cost of financing. And over the next 10 years, the only costs are operating and maintenance costs, thereby reducing the cost of energy per unit to a mere 40 paise. On an average, the machines will last at least 20 years, he says.
The Government, Dr. Kane suggests, can play an important role in pushing for such alternative energy sources not by providing cash subsidies but other kinds of incentives. For instance, in Tamil Nadu, wind energy received a boost last year when the Union Ministry of Textiles agreed to include wind farms in its Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme (TUFS) that gives a subsidy of five per cent in the rate of interest on the borrowed capital for upgrading textile mills. As a result, several textile mills in the State set up wind energy farms. Although wind farms have now been removed from the eligible list of TUFS, Dr. Kane hopes to persuade the Government to reverse its decision.
Some other industries that have successfully used wind energy include Bajaj Auto in Pune that has set up a Rs. 300-crore wind energy farm in Satara, which enables it to write off its entire energy bill. Other major users of wind power are the Ramco Group in Tamil Nadu and Alembic Chemicals and Guardian Glass in Gujarat.
In the face of the growing threat of global warming, Dr. Kane says India needs to take urgent steps to move away from fossil fuels. He believes that the potential for wind energy is far in excess of the 45,000 MW projected by the Centre for Wind Energy Technology. This figure was arrived at after one of the largest mapping programmes in the world where 500 to 600 meteorological masts were set up around the country. The Indian Wind Energy Association estimates that the potential generation is at least 100,000 MW.
Several European countries have made the use of renewable energy compulsory. Dr. Kane says that India too is thinking of creating Renewable Portfolio Standards that would require energy utilities to buy at least five per cent of their total energy from renewable sources. Maharashtra, Karnataka have set a target for renewables.
At the end of 2006 India had 6270 MW of wind generating capacity and is the fourth largest market in the world.There are about a dozen wind pumps of various designs providing water for agriculture, afforestation, and domestic purposes, all scattered over the country. The states of Tamil Nadu and Gujarat lead in the field of wind energy.
wind mills can work effectively in the areas near seashore or on islands... as high current winds blow across land and sea...
government is constructing windmill in its different states like rajasthan.windmill stablishment is possible in the area where speed of wind is high only.Don't worry it is also rising in india.another option to solve indian energy crisis is to establish nuclear power plants and hydroelectric power plants especially in northern bihar, uttaranchal,arunachal pradesh etc.
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