The Tamil Nadu Government is planning to rope in private partners to evacuate power produced through wind mills across the state. It would invest around Rs 3,000 crore in transmission and distribution as part of Phase I.
Speaking at the one-day seminar on Sustainable Energy for Economic Development organised by the Southern Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Sicci) here on Monday, Natham R Viswanathan, state minister for electricity, said, “We are inviting private partners to set up infrastructure to evacuate and transmit the power produced through wind farms.”
The state government is looking at setting up 230 KV to 400 KV substations along with private partners. At present, TN is the leading player in wind energy with an installed capacity of 6,067 Megawatt, which translates into 47 per cent of the country's total wind energy capacity.
“We don't have proper infrastructure to utilise the 100 per cent installed capacity. This is where we are looking at private participation,” he said.
According to him, around 300 Mw capacity by wind farms have not been utilised. To boost investment into the sector, the minister said the government would offer clearance through single window. By 2012, it would add 4,640 Mw to present capacity of 10,237 Mw.
It may be noted, the state is utilising only 8,500 Mw capacity of the total installed capacity because of poor infrastructure (transmission and distribution).
He added every year demand for electricity was going up 7-8 per cent, “but the addition of power is not up to the mark.”
“By August 2012, we should eliminate the power problem completely,” he said. At present, the state is facing power shortage to the tune of 2,800-3,000 Mw.
