IAF to frame safety norms for windmills

The Air Force authorities at the Sulur airport here are planning to frame a set of safety parameters to be adopted by companies, that are installing windmills for captive power generation.

The move to work out safety parameters has been taken as the presence of windmills in the proximity of the Air Force base is causing distortion of signals during the landing and take-off of aircraft, an Indian Air Force spokesman told Business Standard.

"Our ground control staff gets confused when the signals are distorted and it is posing difficulty in operating aircraft. Hence, we are planning to approach the district collector in this regard," said the spokesperson.

Rejecting the idea of dismantling the windmills as reported by a section of the media, K Kasthurirangaian, vice-president of the Indian Wind Power Association (IWPA), said that the airforce authorities would only provide safety measures to be adhered to by the companies.

However, he said that new windmills would require the approval of Indian Air Force authorities besides the permission from the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB).

Kasthurirangaian said that there was a rapid growth in the Indian wind energy market with 3594.5 mw, placing the country in the fourth position behind Germany, Spain and the US. "Tamil Nadu is emerging as a market leader with an installed capacity of 2036.9 mw in 2004-05 as against the 1361.5 mw in the previous year.

Of the total capacity of 2036.9 mw, the Coimbatore region (comprising Palladam, Udumalapet and Dharapuram) alone contributes 40 per cent," he said.

Replying to a query on the purchase price of wind power, he said TNEB pays Rs 2.70 per unit and the price has not been revised for more than five years. The industry wants around Rs 3.20 per unit, which will help them in raising additional capacity.

IWPA estimates that in the current fiscal, there will be a growth of at least 10 per cent in the state in terms of captive power generation.