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Poor capacity addition hits wind power yield
There may be a fresh push for generating renewable and clean energy in the aftermath of the coal shortage that has raised concerns of outages in Tamil Nadu. But, capacity addition of wind power, which is a major source of renewable energy in the State, over the years presents a grim picture.
By
migrator
migrator
Coimbatore
“Capacity addition of wind power in Tamil Nadu has reached a state of stalemate over the last four years due to lack of proper infrastructure and withdrawal of state and central subsidies,” said K Kasturirangan, Chairman of Indian Wind Power Association (IWPA). After registering a high of 1,083 MW of wind capacity addition in 2011-2012, things have been on a drastic downslide.
Since 2012-13, the wind power capacity addition began to plunge by 174.60 MW and further to 107.38 MW, the following year. The capacity addition stood at 185.50 MW in 2015-16 but dipped again to 158.80 MW the subsequent year. There was a slight increase to 256 MW in 2016-17 and 328 MW in 2017-18.
“If Tamil Nadu has been saved from power outages despite the coal stock shortage, it was because of the power generated from windmills. But, too many restrictions from both the state and central governments are hampering the growth of the wind power sector. We have presented the issues to the government to ease the process of increasing investments to generate clean energy through windmills,” said Kasturirangan.
Echoing this, N Pradeep, secretary of Tamil Nadu Electricity Consumers Association, said, “Though Tamil Nadu is leading other states in renewable energy consumption in India, both the solar and wind power capacity addition has come to a state of standstill over the last few years.”
Industry experts said it does not augur well for the State, especially when the emphasis is on generating clean energy. Still, wind power production constitutes a major share of renewable energy, thanks to the numerous mills that are into captive power generation.
“I meet 30 per cent of my energy requirements through my windmill, which has a generation capacity of about 0.5 MW. Most of the mills and industries are surviving despite several setbacks mainly due to production of own energy,” said Pradeep, who owns a windmill at Udumalpet and is into captive power production.
When the State faced long hours of power cuts, captive wind power production grew at a steady phase for a few years since 2008. “It was then that the state government began to promote renewable energy. However, as generation reached its peak, the government couldn’t utilise the generated power due to lack of adequate power grid infrastructure. Since then, there was a slowdown in capacity addition,” said Praveen.
Industry experts said augmentation of transmission infrastructure of windmills, concentrated mostly in Thoothukudi, Udumalpet in Tirupur and in some pockets of Tirunelveli district, will bring more investments for captive capacity addition. Kasturirangan said that this year, 10,000 million units were generated from windmills across the State during the peak season (from April to September).
BLOWIN’ IN THE WIND
After registering a high of 1,083 MW of wind capacity addition in 2011-2012, things are on a drastic downward trend.
- Total installed wind capacity in Tamil Nadu 8,269.215 MW
- Total installed solar capacity in the state 2,141.271 MW
- Wind power generated in peak season this year (April to September): 10,000 million units
- Solar power plants concentrated in Ramanathapuram, Tirunelveli and in some pockets of Chennai outskirts
- Windmills mainly concentrated in Tirupur, Thoothukudi and Tirunelveli districts
YEAR Intalled wind capacity(MW)
2009-2010602
2010-2011998
2011-20121,083
2012-2013174.60
2013-2014107.38
2014-2015185.50
2015-2016158.80
2016- 2017256
2017-2018328
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