Will the wind find its path?

Till a few years ago the wind industry’s cognoscenti would have laughed at the idea of a wind farm in Madhya Pradesh. But today this State in the heart of the country is poised to welcome installations of 1,000 MW and prove that it is not only a big market for renewable energy but also the industry’s meal coupon this year.

“If Madhya Pradesh had not stepped in, the wind industry would have collapsed,” admit industry watchers as they point to the darling States of Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Maharashtra that have taken a beating recently on the wind front.

But what got Madhya Pradesh going? The answer lies in windmill technology, which is moving forward at a fast pace and helping to open up new markets. Taller towers catch speedier winds and longer blades, which sweep larger areas, produce more power. Take the case of wind energy company ReGen Powertech. When it decided to lengthened the blades of its machine from 77 metres to 89 metres, it found the results elevating – electricity generation had increased a whopping 28 per cent.

If it is taller and bigger machines that have enabled economic viability of wind farms in Madhya Pradesh, where potential was once estimated at 600 MW, can it not be put to similar use in other wind 'unproven' States of Odisha and West Bengal? Couldn't the hill States of Jammu & Kashmir and Uttarakhand also do a ‘Madhya Pradesh’? The industry’s answer is an unequivocal ‘yes’. Given the ground realities in the high-wind states, it feels it would be difficult to meet the target of 60 GW by 2022 without opening up new States to this renewable source.

According to Madhusudhan Khemka, Chairman of the Indian Wind Turbine Manufacturers’ Association, the industry indeed is looking at ‘unproven’ States to expand its catchment area. However, there are issues that urgently need ironing out. One of them is the serious lack of data on wind potential in the country.

Though the National Institute of Wind Energy (NIWE, formerly, Centre for Wind Energy Technology) has assessed wind resources across the country and made data available, its research was based on measurements at heights of 80 metres. Today, a wind machine at 80 metres is considered too low. The industry norm is 100 metres and the latest machines stand at 120 metres above the ground. As a thumb rule, wind speeds are higher at every 20 metres you climb. But industry says it cannot invest as much as ₹7 crore a MW on mere assumption of 'thumb rule'. It needs precise measurements and how much wind exactly it could expect at a site. This data is unavailable.

Secondly, NIWE’s estimates of wind potential in States were made years ago. Since then technology has made tremendous strides in terms of blade design (mainly, design of aerofoils, or cross-section of the blade), and the systems of moving the blades to the direction of the wind. “No wind measurements were taken with today’s machines in mind,” notes D V Giri, Secretary-General, Indian Wind Turbine Manufacturers Association.

In the absence of data, the only way out for wind companies is to erect masts and generate their own data. This is both costly and time consuming. As such, companies have been doing the measurements in less windy regions of proven windy States, rather than go to unproven States, explains Giri.

Despite the data tangle there is growing realisation in the industry that if it wants to follow the bucks it will have to enter new states. Major players, however, are hoping to improve their standing in the traditional good states with the logic that if a machine can generate well in Madhya Pradesh, it can do even better in Tamil Nadu or Gujarat.

Notwithstanding that hope, they are also readying themselves for a leap into the unknown. “But only if non-windy States like Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand come up with conducive policies and good tariffs,” they say.

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