WIND POWER

1. Energy-market-potential
Wind is the movement of air from an area of high pressure to an area of low pressure. In fact, wind exists because the sun unevenly heats the surface of the Earth. As hot air rises, cooler air moves into fill the void. As long as the sun shines, the wind will blow. And as long as the wind blows, people will harness it to power their lives. Ancient mariners used sails to capture the wind and explore the world. Farmers once used windmills to grind their grains and pump water. Today, more and more people are using wind turbines to wring electricity from the breeze. Over the past decade, wind turbine use has increased at more than 25 percent a year. Still, it only provides a small fraction of the world’s energy. Most wind energy comes from turbines that can be as tall as a 20-story building and have three 200-foot-long (60-meter-long) blades. These contraptions look like giant airplane propellers on a stick. The wind spins the blades, which turn a shaft connected to a generator that produces electricity. Other turbines work the same way, but the turbine is on a vertical axis and the blades look like a giant egg beater.

The biggest wind turbines generate enough electricity to supply about 600 U.S. homes. Wind farms have tens and sometimes hundreds of these turbines lined up together in particularly windy spots, like along a ridge. Smaller turbines erected in a backyard can produce enough electricity for a single home or small business. Wind is a clean source of renewable energy that produces no air or water pollution. And since the wind is free, operational costs are nearly zero once a turbine is erected. Mass production and technology advances are making turbines cheaper, and many governments offer tax incentives to spur wind-energy development.

Some people think wind turbines are ugly and complain about the noise the machines make. The slowly rotating blades can also kill birds and bats, but not nearly as many as cars, power lines, and high-rise buildings do. The wind is also variable: If it’s not blowing, there’s no electricity generated. Nevertheless, the wind energy industry is booming. Globally, generation more than quadrupled between 2000 and 2006. At the end of last year, global capacity was more than 70,000 megawatts. In the energy-hungry United States, a single megawatt is enough electricity to power about 250 homes. Germany has the most installed wind energy capacity, followed by Spain, the United States, India, and Denmark. Development is also fast growing in France and China. Industry experts predict that if this pace of growth
continues, by 2050 the answer to one third of the world’s electricity needs will be found blowing in the wind
2. Wind energy Indian market potential
- India’s Power Sector despite Government of India’s (GOI) Endeavour to augment power generation capacity of different sources, demand and supply gap is increasing.
- Energy shortage in 2007 08 was estimated at 10% (touching 17% during peak seasons).
By 2012, India’s energy requirement to touch 975,222 MU (and peak demand 1,571,070 MU); an increase of 31.9% and 44.3% respectively from the current demand.
- GOI aims to increase the per capita consumption of electricity to 1000 units by year 2012, envisaged a capacity addition of 100,000 MW to meet its mission of ‘Power for All by 2012.( Central Electricity Authority (CEA) estimates )
- Currently 24.7 % of installed energy generation capacity is from hydro power, 64.6% from thermal generation including gas;
- Nuclear energy constitutes about 2.9% and non conventional energy sources, of which wind energy is predominant, constitute about 7.7%; Source: - Ministry of Power, Government of India (as on Feb 28, 2009) 3rd slide
- India’s power sector
3. Wind energy sector
Wind, hydro, biomass and solar are the main renewable energy sources;
Wind energy has posted the highest growth rates;
26.95 billion units of electricity were generated from wind during 2005 06 to 2007 08;
In 2008, India added 1,800 MW taking the total wind energy installed capacity to 9,645 MW;
This placed it in the 5th position in the world, after USA (25,170 MW), Germany (23,900 MW), Spain (16,754 MW) and China (12,210 MW); (Source: Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Government of India)Wind power energy target against achievement (Source: Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Government of India) Wind Energy: GOI Policy
Under the 11th Five Year Plan (2007 to 2012), GOI has envisaged plans to increase the installed capacity of renewable energy to 10 per cent of total power generation; Out of 70,000 MW installed capacity addition during the 11th Plan period, 14,500 MW (about 20%) capacity additions is proposed from renewable.;
A bulk of the proposed renewable power capacity addition is expected through private investment, for which a suitable policy environment would need to continue; · A target of 10,500 MW has been fixed for Eleventh Five Year Plan for wind power capacity addition through commercial projects with private sector investments; (Source: Planning Commission, Government of India )
GOI has taken various steps to promote Wind Energy in the country; In the 11th Five Year Plan the Government has announced Central Financial Assistance schemes (CFA) for the Grid interactive renewable power projects;
The government provides subsidies for the distributed/ decentralized power projects that are and also dispersed generation of electricity;
A provision of Rs.75 crore is being kept for demonstration wind power project in States where there is sizable potential but no commercial activity has commenced;
GOI has announced Generation based incentives (GBI) for Grid Interactive Wind Power Projects” during 2008 09 to 2011 12.

(Source: Ministry of New & Renewable Energy, Government of India)
4. Wind energy potential
Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh account for over 99% of wind power installations in India
The state wise achievement in the last three years. (Source: Ministry of New & Renewable Energy, Government of India)
The capacity addition depends on various factors such as quality of wind potential, land availability for wind power generation and grid penetration etc; ( Source: Center for Wind Energy Technology)
According to an assessment of AWS True wind, India has an wind potential of 65,000 MW;
There are land areas with excellent wind project potential where wind speeds exceed 9.0 m/s at 80 meter hub height in some of the higher elevations;
Lower elevation areas also show promise with speeds at 100 m height ranging from 6.5 m/s 8.0 m/s;
The significant resource coupled with continued government support makes India a very attractive location for wind development