Wind
the unseen powers
Wind
is emerging as one of the most significant sources of power the
world over. MV Ashok traces the status of wind power in India and
puts forward a global comparison
Power
in the form of electricity is a key to economic development and
though the per capita electricity consumption in the world has risen
several times, over the past few decades, it is still way behind
the level required. Production of electricity has been based on
various forms of non-renewable and renewable energy like wind, small
hydro, bio-mass, urban and industrial waste, solar photovoltaic
and biogas, of which wind power has been one of the major source.
Wind
Power – The Global Scene
|
Table 1
|
| WORLD
LEADERS IN WIND POWER |
| Country |
Capacity
(MW) |
Country |
Capacity
(MW) |
| Germany |
9,500 |
China |
399 |
| USA |
4
,251 |
Japan |
300 |
| Spain |
3,712 |
Sweden |
280 |
| Denmark |
2,456 |
Greece |
272 |
| India |
1,628 |
Canada |
207 |
| Italy |
697 |
Portugal |
127 |
| UK |
485 |
Ireland |
125 |
| Netherlands |
483 |
Egypt |
125 |
Europe
has been the leader in the field of wind power conversion into electricity.
Currently the total installed capacity in the world is over 25,000
MW as against the identified potential of up to 60,000 MW. European
countries have been largely encouraged by the environment friendliness,
financial and technical viability of wind power. The country-wise
wind generation capacity is indicated in Table 1.
Investment
in wind energy is widely prevalent in developed nations because
of the ir heightened sense of ecologicalcommitment and the use of
sophisticated and appropriate technologies. Germany is the leader
in the sector since 1990s, mainly on account of the strategies adopted
and the policies followed. Besides, there has been continuous
governmental support for Research and Development since the late
1980s with a large demonstration programme, which started in 1989,
an adequate legal framework has also been provided to assist in
market building..There has been a decline in the cost of wind power
generation, which is one of the main reasons for the growing interest
in this sector. Besides, the growing concern about environmental
degradation has only further fueled the demand for clean power.
Wind
Power – The Indian Scene
The
per capita electricity consumption in India has risen from 15 to
350 units over the past five decades. As per the current projections,
India will require 240,000 MW of installed power generation capacity
by 2012, which would entail an annual addition of about 10,000-15,000
MW. The required fossil fuel reserves for power generation are
depleting fast. Further, the growing concern over the environmental
degradation and the warming of the earth caused by conventional
power plants has added to the significance of renewable forms of
energy source like wind.
Renewable
energy systems in India today have an installed capacity of 3500
MW. This source contributes nearly 4 per cent of overall generation
capacity in the power sector. The break up of installed capacity
and potential against each of the renewable energy technology/ sources
in India is given in Table 2
Source/
Technology |
Unit |
Potential
Estimation |
%
to total
(% of 4 to 1,00,092) |
Achievement
(2002) |
| |
|
|
|
Actual |
%
to total |
%
Achievement to related potential |
| Wind
Power |
MW |
45,000
|
45 |
1628.00 |
44.65 |
3.62 |
| Small
Hydro(<25 MW) |
MW |
15,000 |
15 |
1341.00 |
36.78 |
8.94 |
| Bio-mass
Power |
MW |
19,500 |
19 |
308.00 |
8.44 |
1.58 |
| Bio-mass
Grassfires |
MW |
16,000 |
16 |
35.00 |
0.98 |
0.22 |
| Bio-mass
Congregation |
MW |
3,500 |
3 |
273.00 |
7.50 |
7.8 |
| Urban
& Industrial Waste |
MW |
1,700 |
2 |
15.20 |
0.43 |
0.89 |
| Solar
Photovoltaries |
MW/Sq.
Km. |
20 |
Negligible |
47.00 |
1.30 |
235 |
| Solar
Water Heating |
Million
Sq./Km Collector area |
140 |
Negligible |
0.55 |
Negligible |
0.4 |
| Biogas
Plants |
Million |
12 |
Negligible |
3.10 |
Negligible |
25.83 |
| Improved
Biomass |
Million |
120 |
Negligible |
33.00 |
Negligible |
27.5 |
| Total |
MW |
100992.00 |
100.00 |
3647.20 |
100.00 |
|
It
may be observed that wind power holds the maximum potential as a
source of power and has been tapped only up to 3.62 per cent.
Currently
India holds the fifth position in terms of installed capacity of
wind power, which can be considered fairly appreciable, as the
wind power generation is a fairly recent introduction into India.
It was only during the last one decade that India has made fast
strides not withstanding the fact that it has been pushed to the
fifth position from the third position during this period. A look
at the growth of the industry during the last one-decade indicates
a shortfall in investment from 1996 onwards owing to lowering of
tax-credit benefits, levying of corporate income tax, withdrawal
of third party sale in some states and low capacity utilisation
of units.
.....CONTD
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