Tamil Nadu releases draft repowering policy with wind banking facility
To incentivise the wind energy producers, the policy allows wind banking for up to 50 per cent of additional generation in the month from the repowered project.
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CHENNAI: To encourage wind power developers to take up repowering of the old windmills, the state government has released a draft "Tamil Nadu Repowering and Life Extension Policy for Wind Power Projects – 2024" with the assurance of extending "wind banking" facility with certain conditions for the repowered project.
Repowering refers to the replacement of old and inefficient turbines with new and more efficient with increased generation capacity ones in an attempt to increase the installed capacity as well as the power generation.
Tamil Nadu has installed wind energy generation capacity of 8,895 MW.
According to the MNRE's report, it has repowering potential to the extent of 7,387 MW.
The draft policy released by the government said that the objective is to promote the optimum utilisation of wind energy resources by providing an enabling framework for the Repowering/Refurbishment of old windmills. The Policy also lays an exhaustive list of incentives so that repowering is commercially attractive for old Wind Energy Generators (WEGs).
Even though the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy released the Repowering policy in 2016, it did not take off in the state as the windmill operators found it not attractive.
To incentivise the wind energy producers, the policy allows wind banking for up to 50 per cent of additional generation in the month from the repowered project.
However, the banked energy would be allowed yearly from the date of generation up to March 31 of the same financial year and it should be utilised only from 8 am to 4 pm. The banked energy as of November 1 should be utilised from November to March with a minimum utilisation of 20 per cent of banked energy every month.
The 'banking' system allows wind power producers to put power into the grid and draw the power back for consumption within a year. This is particularly useful for wind power producers who also own other industries that may need electricity to run.
Tamil Nadu Spinning Mills Association has sought an amendment to the draft policy in wind banking to remove restrictions on the adjustment of banked energy on a fixed time slot basis.
The annual banking should allowed with a cap of 65 per cent of generation during the peak wind season from May to September instead of the 50 per cent proposed cap.
