Development Of Wind Energy Industry In India

Abstract

Wind power is the conversion of Wind Energy into useful forms, such as using turbine to make electrical power, windmills for mechanical power, wind pumps for water pumping or drainage, or sails to propel ships. Wind has considerable potential as a global clean energy source, as it is widely available, and it does not produce any pollution during power generation. Wind energy has been one of primary energy sources for various purposes like milling grain, and pumping water for several millennia. Windmills were used in China, around 2000 years ago India and Persia. The first wind technology was started by creating a vertical axis wind mill which was used at the Persian-Afghan borders around 200 BC and the horizontal-axis windmills were introduced in Netherlands and Mediterranean following much later (1875 AD). India has a plenty of renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, hydro and biomass, tidal due to its geographical conditions. The potential of wind is very good throughout the country. India is fourth in the world in installing wind energy, after countries like China, U. S. A. and Germany. As a result of social, economical and industrial development of country, the demand for electricity grows rapidly in India. A very large amount of oil and natural gas are imported from neighboring countries. Rapidly growing demand of energy forces India to search for renewable energy sources such as wind energy. As a result of scientific evaluation of wind resources throughout the country, wind power has emerged as a feasible and cost effective option for power generation.

Significance of wind energy

The Commission for Additional Sources of Energy (CASE) was set up by Indian government in 1981 which intended to formulate and implement policies for development of new and Renewable Energy. Department of Non-Conventional Energy was formed in 1982 and given the responsibility of taking care of CASE. In the year 1992, this department was altered into the separate ministry, Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Sources (MNES) and became world’s first ministry dedicated to renewable energy. The planning of energy involves finding a set of sources to meet the energy requirements in an optimal manner. As an alternative means and of meeting global energy demands, Renewable Energy sources, including Solar, Wind, Mini-Hydropower, Geothermal, and Biomass Energy, receive increasing attention.

Since it is an affordable and clean energy source, wind energy is among the world’s fastest growing renewable energy forms. The challenge for India today is rapidly adoption of renewable energy sources to power growing economy at a price that consumers can afford and on a scale large enough to make a major dent in shortages. India has introduced large scale conventional power resources, as demand for power has grown since decades. Today there are alternate options available in the form of solar and wind power technologies and renewable energy resources have become commercially available in the market.

Potential of wind energy in India

In India for the development of wind energy MNRE has incorporated Centre for Wind Energy Technology (C-WET) as technical focal point. This agency is responsible for wind resource assessment in the country. Till the recent past, the official estimate of onshore wind potential in India was 49. 13 GW, but it has been revised by C-WET to 102 GW, at 80 meter hub height. Country – wide network of 790 wind monitoring stations in 31 states and union territories for wind resource mapping has been established by C-WET.

Wind energy scenario in India

Only five states located in Southern and Western India - Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh generates more than 95 percent of total nation’s wind energy. Approximately 85 percent of total installed capacity before the end of 11th Five Year Plan has been accounted by this five states. In wind energy generation, it clearly indicates that these five states have been leaders in wind energy generation while other states like Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Kerala are also quickly increasing their capacity.

In domestic market, the fresh wind based capacity installed was 2349 MW in FY 2001 - higher than that in any year. The increase could be attributed to high demand from IIP segment. IIPs announced large size project with a view of trend with higher average size per project (ranging above 50MW at single location).

Wind energy status of India

The Wind Energy Program was commenced in India by the end of the 6th Five Yearly Plan in 1983-84 and in last the few years it has increased considerably. The commercialization of wind energy production, support research and development, provide help to wind projects and to create awareness among people was the main objective of the program. Various modification regarding incentives, schemes and policies for wind energy has been done under this program by Ministry of Non Renewable energy (MNRE). India is relatively new to the wind energy sector as compared to Denmark and USA. Nevertheless, Indian policy support for wind energy has led India and it is ranked fifth with largest installed wind power capacity. The total installed power capacity was 19,565 MW on June 30, 2013 and now India is just behind USA, China, Spain and Germany.

In spite of this, we have only utilized our onshore wind potential. Even though India has a long coast line of over 7500 km, we have not yet tapped our offshore wind resource for energy generation.

Trends of wind energy in India

In India and across the globe a sudden increase in wind power installation capacity has been observed in last two decades. Fig 1 shows recent trends depicting the inclination for the green energy and India stand fifth in total installed capacity whereas also maintain fourth position in addition of wind power in year 2012.

Modern wind turbines

• NO. of blades in a turbin. The determination of the number of blades involves design, considerations of aerodynamic efficiency, component costs, system reliability and aesthetics. In the 1980s and early 1990s, attempts were made to commercialize one and two bladed wind turbine design; however, most of the modern wind turbines have three blades. The single bladed design is the most structurally efficient for the rotor blade but it has various cons as compared to the others though it was developed before the rest. Hence, we can call it a prototype or the first kind of electricity generating wind turbine.
• Power control: pitch versus stall. The main function of the wind-turbine design is to produce Electrical Energy as cheaply as possible. Therefore, wind turbines are designed to extract maximum energy from wind and yield the Maximum output power. The modern wind turbines mainly consist of two types of power controlling system. First, the pitch controlling wind turbine where the electronic controller checks the power output of the turbine several times in each second. When the power output of the turbine is too high, the controlling system sends the signal to the blade pitch mechanism that immediately turns the rotor slightly out of wind and vice versa.

Secondly, stall-regulated wind turbine requires a speed regulation and a suitable torque speed characteristic intrinsic in the aerodynamic design of the rotor. When the wind speed becomes too high, it creates turbulence on the side of the rotor blade which is not facing the strong wind. The stall prevents the lifting force of the rotor blade from acting on the rotor.

Technology and manufacturing

State of the art technology is now being used to manufacture turbines used in windmills, with a large number of Multi-National Corporations taking an interest in developing wind energy in the country. Production of said turbines occurs in over 50 varieties, with more than 20 different companies indulging in manufacturing.

All these companies are either of the given three types:

1. 1) joint ventures under licensed production
2. 2) subsidiaries of foreign companies
3. 3) Indian companies with their own technology.

As of 17 December 2018, Vestas India is one of the top manufacturers of wind turbines in the country. The Indian market is a strategic focus market for Vestas. The company began operations in India by 1979. The company has major footprints in over 70 countries. In 2017, the company earned revenue of €10 Billion and has a workforce of more than 23,000 globally. In 2017, the blade factory was inaugurated which expanded its capabilities with 350 MW of turnkey projects. The factory will be used to export purposes as well as supplying blades to the local market. The year 2017 turned out to be a good year for Vestas as more than 600 MW of additional orders were announced. The company continues to collaborate with external manufacturers to ensure a flexible supply chain in order to ensure a competitive footprint.

Other leading manufacturers include

1. Suzlon Energy Ltd.
2. ReGen Powertech Pvt. Ltd.
3. Wind World India Ltd.
4. Orient Green Power Ltd.
5. Indowind Energy Ltd.
6. GE Wind Energy Ltd.
7. Inox Wind
8. Leitwind Shriram Manufacturing Ltd.
9. RRB Energy.

The current annual production capacity of domestic wind turbines in India is about 10,000 MW. The focus is to promote a technology suitable for low wind regimes of India. Wind turbines and wind turbine components manufactured by the aforementioned companies are exported to the US, Australia, Europe, Brazil, and Asian countries. Due to a stronger domestic manufacturing sector, around 70%–80% indigenization has been achieved in the sector. Interestingly, the cost of Indian wind turbines is one of the lowest in the world.

Wind energy policies in India

India needs to eradicate poverty so it needs to maintain an economic growth of at least 9 percent, in order to maintain economic growth India needs to generate more power from non conventional sources and here Wind energy plays an important role. Some of the government policies are</p>

Generation based incentives

In this an incentive of 50 Paise is given per unit energy generated through Wind turbines. Such policies help the Government a lot as the wind energy generation is now commercial. For example:- If a person wishes to install a Windmill, now along with the energy which he can easily sell he's also getting 50 Paise for every unit of energy he generates.

State wise tarrif for wind power

National Wind energy mission (NWEM) was launched in April 2012 it enrolls the scheme of accelerated depreciation. Now every state has its own TARRIF for 2ind power which was decided according the amount of Wind energy generated by the whole state

National clean energy fund (NCEF)

In 2011, a new ministry known as Ministry of New and Renewable Energy was formed. It prepared an idea for generating more fund for clean energy research in India known as NCEF.

By the end of March 2012 the fund collected was 3864 Crores which have been heavily invested in searching new and more efficient way of generating renewable energy. The main search of the ministry was generating Wind energy by vertical axis Wind turbines.

Land allocation policy

The government of India amended the Wind Power Policy 2012, with an aim of attracting more investors and giving boost to renewable energy ans especially to wind energy which has a high installation cost but nominal working cost. The government wants to ensure an easy process for allocation of land and other formalities for setting up wind power projects.

The Indian government is on the mission of increasing investment in the renewable energy sector by adopting an investor friendly approach. The government is adopting an alternate approach as it does not invest directly into a wind energy project, but invest in R&D by putting up small demonstration projects at remote locations. Demonstration projects in Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka had been put up by Indian Government with the support of Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA). During 11th five year plan (2007-2012) Indian government has spent $44. 79 million on R&D in wind energy.

Initiatives undertaken

Amendment in Tariff Policy

Renewable Purchase Obligation (RPO) was introduced through the Electricity Act, 2003, mandating the obligated entities to procure a minimum percentage of their total energy procurement from renewable sources. The state regulators declared the requisite RPO level, ranging from 3% to 12%, for the year 2016/17. The amended Tariff Policy notified in January 2016 provides for purchase of renewable energy by different states in more or less the same proportion. The policy further provides for prescribing long-term growth trajectory of RPO by Ministry of Power, Government of India, in consultation with MNRE. The MoP has issued RPO trajectory up to 2019 notifying uniform RPOs across the country. The Ministry of Power (MoP) on September 30, 2016, issued an order for waiver of ISTS charges and losses for wind and solar power subject to the following conditions:

1. The waiver is applicable for wind power projects commissioned till March 31, 2019, and for 25 years from the date of commissioning of the projects. Further, the waiver is available for projects having power purchase agreements (PPAs) with compliance of RPO.
2. For solar, the waiver was valid up to June 30, 2017, as per CERC regulations.
3. The waiver is only applicable for solar and wind projects awarded through a competitive bidding process.

Forecasting and Scheduling

The CERC has already notified a mechanism for scheduling and forecasting in case of inter-state transmission of solar and wind power. The states of Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, and Odisha, have already notified draft regulations for intra-state transmission of wind and solar power and the states of Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, and Rajasthan have already finalized these regulations. NIWE, Chennai, has undertaken the forecasting and scheduling exercise in Tamil Nadu which has resulted in better management of transmission system for evacuation of wind power in the state and during 2016/17, over 12 BU of wind power was evacuated compared to around 7 BU earlier. Similar initiatives have been carried out in Rajasthan and Gujarat as well. For proper forecasting and scheduling, it is necessary to put in place a metering and communication infrastructure at all pooling stations for real time generation of data.

Green Energy Corridoors

The Green Energy Corridors Project, instrumental in identification of transmission requirement for renewable power capacity addition during the Twelfth Five Year Plan period, is currently under implementation. Intra-state transmission infrastructure projects of total cost over `10,000 crore, in eight states, have already been approved and the central government is providing 40% of the project cost as grant from National Clean Energy Fund and another 40% of the project cost is available as soft loan through the German Bank KfW.

Repowering Policy

Most of the wind turbines installed up to the year 2000 are of capacity below 500 kW and are at present located at sites replete with high wind energy potential. It is estimated that over 3,000 MW capacity installations are produced by wind turbines of 500 kW capacities or below. In order to optimally utilize the wind energy resources, repowering is imperative. The main features of said repowering are:

1. As part of the policy, wind turbine generators of capacity 1 MW and below will be eligible for repowering
2. IREDA will provide an additional interest rate rebate of 0. 25% for repowering projects.
3. Benefits available to the new wind projects, that is, accelerated depreciation or GBI as per applicable conditions will also be available.
4. In case augmentation of transmission system from pooling station onwards is required, the same would be carried out by the respective state transmission utility.
5. Additional generation could either be purchased by discoms at feed-in-tariff applicable in the state at the time of commissioning of the repowering project or allowed for third party sale.

Wind Bidding Scheme

Out of 302 GW wind power potential in the country, over 297 GW is concentrated in the eight windy states in the country. To enable non-windy states to fulfill their non-solar RPO obligation through purchase of wind power at a tariff determined by transparent bidding process, a scheme for setting up of 1,000 MW Inter-State Transmission System (ISTS) connected Wind Power Projects was sanctioned by MNRE on June 14, 2016. PTC India Ltd was selected as trading company to sign PPAs with successful bidders and back-to-back power sale agreements (PSAs) with state utilities/bulk consumers under the Scheme. Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI), the implementing agency of the Scheme, issued tender document on October 28, 2016, and e-reverse auction was conducted on February 23, 2017.

Future perspectives

Two major promotional incentives curtailed — accelerated depreciation is reduced from 80% to 40% and GBI not extended after March 31, 2017. There are apprehensions that cost of wind power will increase due to GST, which will be in force from July 2017. With successful auction of wind power, all the wind capacity is likely to be added through the bidding route. The establishment of projects, through bidding process, around 21 months’ time is required (3 months for bidding process and 18 months for completion of projects). Bidding has begun recently and therefore no wind project being established through bidding process will be commissioned during the current year, this will affect achievement of targets. The government has set a target of achieving 60,000 MW by 2022 which means a capacity addition of around 30,000 MW in the next 5 years (annual capacity addition of 6,000 MW). To further accelerate the process, bidding has already been introduced in order to discover a suitable price discovery mechanism for interstate sale of wind power. The focus area will be on repowering and wind–solar hybrid projects that will require formulation of promotional programmes and schemes for demonstration.

Conclusion

Hence we can conclude that India is one of the leading countries in the world for the development and deployment of wind energy. Wind energy technology is currently making a significant contribution to the electric power generation systems in India. Government of India has been actively putting efforts to promote

Renewable Energy. Hence it is important for Indian government to introduce revolutionary changes in its wind energy programme to become global leader in wind energy. These changes can include starting offshore wind energy installation, repowering of old turbines with new higher capacity wind turbines, increasing R&D budget in wind energy technology and enhancing regulatory and tariff regime to bring wind energy into national power system.
Some of the suggestions offered by us to increase use of Wind energy in India are:

1. Schemes like investing in Wind energy should give some perks to the people.
2. These perks could include 5 to 10 percent reduction in the tax for the personnel investing in the wind energy.
3. If a person provides land for Wind turbines than he could get more rent.
4. The person can sell his energy not only to government electricity providing agency but also to private agencies like Reliance Power, Aadani electricity etc.
5. We can boost our Wind Energy dependency by granting funds into the research of its advantages, and by promoting sales of our turbines in the foreign markets.

References

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