Answer is blowing in the wind

IN SEARCH OF CLEAN ENERGY: PART I

The world has just eight years to go before it reverses its carbon consumption and CO2 emission. This has been agreed upon by 2,500 scientists writing for the Nobel-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The main "culprit" for CO2 emissions is coal-based energy which has 24 per cent share in India's emissions and 41 per cent worldwide. While coal accounts for 25 per cent of energy, the role of renewables is 13 per cent. Of these, wind, solar and bio masses contribute just 4.1 per cent. A series of articles look at the prospects for the renewable energy in the country.

Suzlon Energy, the world's leading wind turbine supplier, is installing 33 wind mills in Agali panchayat in Palakkad district in Kerala, where a total of 19.8 Mw energy would be generated. Each machine, priced at Rs 4 crore, is up on offer for buyers.

Bhima, a jewellery chain in Kerala, has already bought some of the machines and Popy, a leading brand of umbrella makers in the state, has lapped up the rest.

Each machine generates 400 kw of energy which the buyers can sell to the Kerala State Electricity Board, officials in the Board say.

Agali alone has the potential to generate 100 Mw of wind energy, the board officials point out, indicating at the possibility of more wind mills there, apart from the 33 set up by Suzlon in agreement with the Board.

More and more states are facilitating setting up wind energy projects and 13-odd states have set targets of producing 10 per cent of their power from renewable energy.

The total potential for wind energy in the country is 45,000 Mw of which just 10,500 Mw are to be tapped by the end of the 11th Five-Year Plan.

About 3,000 Mw of wind power capacity is to be added to the existing 7,659 Mw over the next four years to take the total to 10,500 Mw by 2012.

But the Ministry of Renewable Energy points out that the progress has been quick. From a mere 1,600 Mw of wind generation capacity ten years ago, India has emerged as the country with the fourth largest wind-power capacity, after the US, Germany and Spain.

Within the country so far, Tamil Nadu has been responsible for producing the bulk of the energy, along with Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Gujarat and Rajasthan.

Tamil Nadu with 3,000 Mw installed capacity has proposed a target of 2,500 Mw wind power capacity by 2012.

Private players like Suzlon, Enercon, the Baldota Group and Vestas RRB are at the forefront of bringing this wind of change that is sweeping the energy sector.

Suzlon has an installed capacity of over 600 Mw in the country, and plans to increase it to over 1,000 Mw by 2009.

The Baldota Group also plans to double its existing capacity of 191.6 Mw to reach 400 Mw by 2010 with an investment of Rs 1,100 crore. Private power majors like Tata Power and Reliance Energy as well as international firms are also investing in wind farms.

Roaring 40s (an equal joint venture between China Light & Power and Hydro Tasmania) has also announced plans to set up a 250-Mw wind power capacity in India by 2010. Other multinational renewable energy companies such as Westwind of Australia and Axiona of Spain are also planning to invest in wind farms. BP Energy India Pvt Ltd, a subsidiary of the multinational BP, is planning a 40-Mw wind farm.

With banks ready to finance these projects, there seems to be nothing to deter more participation from the private sector. For instance, a company like TCP Ltd in Tamil Nadu has set up 12 wind power generators of 225 Kw each at Kayathar in Tirunelvel district.

It got Rs 2 crore from the Industrial Development Bank of India and Rs 6.80 crore from the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Ltd. The company also set up seven wind plants of 500 Kw each at Palladam taluk in Coimbatore district at a cost of Rs 20 crore.

The wind plants make economic sense and that is why banks are financing them, says V Raghuraman, principal advisor in CII, who is also on the board of Suzlon. The private sector is driving the change and yet the industry is accused of doing nothing, he adds.

Government support
The capital expenditure on wind power "" ranging from Rs 3.5-Rs 6 crore per megawatt "" is higher on average than the Rs 4 crore per megawatt required for a conventional coal fired plant.

The per unit cost of wind power is also quite high "" at around Rs 3-3.50 per unit "" when compared with the the power that will be supplied from the pithead coal-based Sasan ultra mega power plant for instance, at Rs 1.19 per unit.

The country's wind power potential is estimated at 45,000 Mw and the government has already identified 216 possible sites, having annual mean wind power density of 200 watt per square metre or more at 50-metre elevation, which are considered suitable for installation of wind power projects.

The wind power projects get fiscal incentives and tax credits, which makes wind power attractive. Currently, a Central scheme provides an accelerated depreciation benefit of 80 per cent, an income-tax holiday and exemption from excise and concessional customs duty.

The downside
The only limitation is that wind can only supplement and never supplant. Besides wind is variable, seasonal and most available in monsoons, say investors. Hence, the plant load factor in case of wind ranges from 20 per cent to 40 per cent in comparison with the coal-fired plants where it is between 75 and 85 per cent.

"Another constraint is that of grid availability," says a ministry official, adding the evacuation facilities are not made in many places simultaneously and the wind power produced cannot be linked to the grid.

Wind power lobbyists, however, maintain that wind power could actually give the conventional power a "run for its money" when economies of scale kick in.