 "J Jayalalithaa")
In a letter to the Prime Minister, she said, "Tamil Nadu is in a position to sell about 1,000 Mw of wind power to other states, which require this power to meet their Renewable Purchase Obligation (RPO). Tamil Nadu has already met its Renewable Purchase Obligation".
Many states in India that are unable to meet the RPO, are now approaching Tamil Nadu for assistance for meeting this obligation. To facilitate the sale of surplus wind power to the states in need of renewable energy, it is important that a dedicated inter-State Green Energy Corridor is established so that the surplus wind energy from Tamil Nadu can be successfully evacuated and sold to other States.
"I understand that the Power Grid Corporation already proposes to establish such an interstate green energy corridor," she said.
She requested the Prime Minister to instruct the Ministry of Power to speed up the process of establishing the interstate green energy corridor at the earliest. While dedicated infrastructure would take some time to be created, in the meantime, Power Grid Corporation may be directed to allocate dedicated transmission capacity on a priority basis to evacuate the surplus wind energy available in Tamil Nadu to other States this season, she added.
Tamil Nadu has an installed capacity of 7,600 Mw of wind power contributes about 27 per cent of the country's total installed wind capacity. In addition, there is an installed capacity of 1,142 Mw of solar power.
"Our goal is to add a further 4,500 Mw of wind power and 5,000 Mw of solar power over the next five years," said the Chief Minister.
Normally the wind season is from June to September of every year which coincides with the South West Monsoon. During the current wind season, wind power to an extent of 4,400 Mw is being utilized in the Tamil Nadu Grid based on the evacuation infrastructure which has been established. Even with the implementation of the intrastate evacuation infrastructure, the entire wind energy generated in the State cannot be fully consumed within Tamil Nadu particularly in this season, she added.
Tamil Nadu has decided to establish an solar power and has sought assistance from the National Clean Energy Fund to establish the intra-State Green Energy Corridor, earlier. Based on financing from the NCEF and further assistance from the German aid agency, KfW, an intrastate green energy corridor is expected to be fully operational soon.
