A Study of Wind Energy Potential in India

Abstract

There is huge activity in wind power, pan-India with the installed capacity increasing to 10,000 MW. India today has the fifth largest installed capacity of wind power in the world with 11087MW installed capacity and potential for on-shore capabilities of 65000MW. However the plant load factor (PLF) in wind power generation is very low, often in the single digits. The increase in interest in wind energy is due to investment subsidies, tax holidays, and government action towards renewable energy playing a big part in nation’s energy system. There is a need to generate environment friendly power that not only raises energy efficiency and is sustainable too. The time has come for moving to generation based subsidies and understanding the drawbacks associated with wind power in India. The capital cost of wind power is third higher than conventional thermal power; further electrical problems like voltage flicker and variable frequency affect the implementation of wind farm. However advances in technologies such as offshore construction of wind turbines, advanced control methodologies, and simulation of wind energy affecting overall grid performance are making a case for wind energy.