 Home |
|
|
|
Infrastructure |
India has become the third largest country with the wind energy potential with an annual installation of 875 megawatts (MW), Denmark based BTM Consult has said. India closely follows Europe and the U.S. With a total wind energy capacity of 3,000 MW, India is slightly behind world leader Denmark that has an installed capacity of 3,083 MW. Together Europe and the U.S. accounted for 34,725 MW and 6,750 MW respectively in 2004 while India will have an installed capacity of 8,300 MW by 2009, the consultant said. Despite having a vast land with good wind potential, India produces only one percent of energy from wind though the government has made a policy to make wind energy commercially viable through various methods. States like Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh produce over 99 percent wind power in the country. While the southern state of Tamil Nadu accounted for 56.7 percent of wind energy production, Maharashtra followed close second with an annual wind energy production of 12.7 percent. India has seen a phenomenal growth in installed capacity and electricity generation (mainly thermal, hydel and nuclear). The total installed capacity in the country is 9.31 quadrillion BTU and some 65 percent of this is owned and operated by the State Electricity Board (SEB's) (which account for 95 percent of the total retail electricity sales); while 29 percent is owned and operated by corporations set up by the Central Government. Domestic, industrial and irrigation sector consumers utilitse over 85 percent of India's electrical energy. Per capita consumption has grown from 15.6 KwH in 1950 to 314 KwH in the 1990's. There exists a considerable scope for augmenting energy generation to bring consumption to international levels. Inspite of the massive growth in the generation capacity, severe shortages persist in the Indian power sector. Energy deficit is approximately 12 percent and peaking shortage 18 percent. Capacity addition has fallen far short of consumption growth. In absolute terms, the gap between demand and supply has widened over the last five years and is expected to increase in the short term. A look into the future Between the years 1995-2005, the minimum capacity addition needed is estimated to be over 83,000 MW. At an average cost of US$ 1 million per MW, the investment called for is US$ 83 billion. If the investment required in transmission and distribution are taken into account, the total figure rises to US$ 143 billion. A majority of this amount will have to be funded by the private sector, both domestic and foreign. India has tremendous potential in the virtually untapped sector of renewable sources of energy (approximately 126,000 MW comprising 79,000 MW from ocean thermal, sea wave and tidal power; 20,000 MW form wind energy; 17,000 MW from bio-mass; and 10,000 MW from mini-micro hydel power projects). The Government is intensifying its research and development in new and renewable sources of energy.
|
Fast Facts: - India has world's third largest wind energy installed capacity. |
|
Questions
(FAQ's) or Comments (feedback) about this
site? Email to
damanig@diehardindian.com |
|
