A country’s progress is inextricably linked to its power situation. According to the government’s Twelfth Five-Year Plan, electric power is crucial to all economic activity and is the key to ensuring rapid growth.
In India, most power is generated using coal and natural gas. This is called thermal power. However, in recent times, paucity of both these resources has called for a greater focus on renewable energy. Water stress is only further pushing the government towards exploring renewable resources.
Coal India sees a 20% shortage in the next five years, while an Ernst & Young report says that India’s natural gas market continues to be in a state of deficit, with around 38% of the gas demand being unmet in FY12. This means that if India has to meet its growing power demands in the face of increasing population and rampant urbanization, it has to turn to renewable forms of energy like wind to bridge the gap.
Wind energy – the way ahead
The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy says that of the total installed capacity of 29.53 Gigawatts (GW) of power obtained from renewable sources as of October 2013, wind contributed to 19.93 GW, which is nearly 70% .
While India may have a long way to go when it comes to harnessing the full potential of wind energy, globally, we don’t fare bad either. In fact, according to the Centre for Wind Technology website, India ranks 5th in the world after USA, Germany, China and Spain in grid connected wind power installations.
The government too is taking efforts to promote renewable energy. In order to give an impetus to the wind sector, the Twelfth Five-Year Plan has proposed the setting up of National Wind Energy Mission.
The wind potential in India is now estimated at about 103000 MW for 80 m hub height. This is based on meso-scale weather models and a land utilization rate at 2 per cent. The Plan says that owing to technology by 2020, we could target a wind capacity addition of 30000 MW.
However, unlike some other countries, wind potential is unevenly distributed across India. Only Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat have significant potential.
Why wind makes sense economically
While wind energy reduces dependence on coal and natural gas, it also makes sense from an economic standpoint. HSBC Global Research’s India Renewables report says that wind is already cost competitive with new coal capacity, while solar is likely to reach parity with new coal only by 2016-18.
The HSBC report says that the tariff bids for new coal capacity, submitted inDecember 2012 in the state of Uttar Pradesh, are in the range of Rs 4.5-7/kwh (kilowatts-hour). Wind feed-in tariffs across seven key wind states range from Rs 3.51-5.92/kwh, with four of them having a tariff lower than Rs 4.5/kwh. This shows that wind energy is cheaper as compared with new coal-based generation capacity.
In a bid to give a fillip to this sector, the government, in its Budget 2013-2014, has re-introduced generation-based incentives for wind energy projects and has allocated Rs 800 crore for this purpose.
In the years to come, domestic supply of natural gas is likely to take a hit, given that basins like Krishna-Godavari D-6 block are unable to produce gas as planned. This will only further increase our dependence on gas imports.
Also, nuclear energy in India has not exactly taken off owing to public opposition and the Nuclear Liability Bill.
This leaves us with renewable energy (wind in particular) being the one of the most viable option. Besides, some of the advantages of harnessing wind energy are low input fuel costs, less pollution and reduced carbon footprint.
The future should witness more investments being made in the wind sector, as it is not only an economical option, but also an environment-friendly one.
Know more about wind energy
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