The Hindu Business Line : TN windmills resume after a day's halt

Losing money
Order came at a time when wind conditions were ideal for full generation.
While coal and water can be stored, wind once lost will mean complete loss.

Chennai June 24 Over 3,400 MW of wind power generation came to a stop on Friday with the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board asking windmill owners to stop generation. This was due to a fall in demand because of a drop in day temperatures.

Windmill owners said that the generation was restored on Saturday night but they lost about a crore of rupees an hour in terms of power generation lost.

Officials at TNEB, while not willing to talk about the wind power situation, said that the demand in Tamil Nadu has dropped by about 1,000 MW in the last two days. Earlier, the summer heat had pushed the demand for power to peak levels. The total installed power generation capacity is 10,098 MW.

The TNEB would now be able to use its surplus power to supply to the deficit States.

Ideal conditions

According to the Indian Wind Power Association, the electricity board had said that the frequency in the grid had exceeded 50.3 cycles during the week indicating that the total power generation in the State is more than the distributed load.

According to association sources, the order came at a time when the wind conditions were ideal for full generation. At the main productions centres in Coimbatore, Tirunelveli and Kanyakumari the wind conditions are around 12-30 metres a second. Such conditions last only for about five-six months a year.

Windmill owners need to make the most of such a situation but lost nearly Rs 1 crore an hour now — on 3,400 MW total wind power capacity. The TNEB pays them Rs 2.70 a unit.

Though the TNEB has committed that it would take the power, whenever there is a surplus, wind power takes the hit first. While coal and water used to generate thermal power and hydel power could be stored for use later, wind once lost would mean complete loss for the owners.

`Supply to deficit States'

The association has suggested that the Board explore the options of supplying surplus power to other States. It has said that the surplus could be used to repay the power bought from Haryana and Punjab, during summer. (The TNEB had bought 300 MW power between February and May to make up for the summer demand and is to return 315 MW in the four subsequent months.)

The association has also said that TNEB could sell electricity to other power-deficit States, such as Maharashtra.

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