India rated third in energy potential

India's energy potential is rated the third largest in the world, with annual installations of 875 mega watts (MW), only after Europe and US, exceeding forecasts of 500 MW, according to analysis by Danish consultants BTM Consult. This accounts for 10.7 per cent of the total MW of capacity added globally.

India's cumulative wind energy capacity is currently 3,000 MW, only behind Denmark, which has a installed capacity of 3,083 MW. Europe and US have an installed capacity of 34,725 MW and 6,750 MW respectively in 2004. It is expected that India's installed capacity would touch 8,300 MW by 2009.

The Centre has proposal to make renewable energy more commercially viable and cover issues of cost and quality, making a self-reliant model for the sector. Currently, only one per cent of India's electricity is generated through wind turbines.

A number of corporates including Bajaj Auto, Godrej Industries, and Ramco Industries, have recently decided to set up wind energy plants, to meet their electricity requirements.

Seven states in India, namely, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh account for over 99 per cent of the wind power installations in the country.

As of the last fiscal, Tamil Nadu accounts for the highest share at 56.7 per cent of the cumulative capacity, followed by Maharashtra which accounts for 12.7 per cent.

India and China together have seen a 25 per cent rise in capacity growth over the last few years, second to Australia. However, globally the demand for electricity currently exceeds the supply by 7.3 per cent, with a peak shortage of 11.7 per cent.

The per capita electricity consumption in India is also abysmal at 335 kilowatt-hour (kWh), compared with 877 kWh in China, and 1878 kWh in Brazil.

The global wind energy industry is worth $11.3 billion, as of end-2004.