Wind
beneath the wings
Wind
power as an alternate source of energy can be quite a profitable and
viable option. Vivek Taneja explains why
Power is regarded as one of the most critical components in the socio-economic
development of any country. And for India, power is a crucial element
is building up its structure. Reliable availability of power can be
described as India’s biggest challenge, in achieving growth targets
in industry, commerce, agriculture and for development of rural and
backward areas. The annual per capita consumption at 350 kWh is amongst
the lowest in the world. The power shortages during 2001-02 were estimated
at 7.8 per cent in terms of energy and 13 per cent in terms of peak
load. Given these facts it is imperative that alternate sources be tapped
and that too speedily. Since there is a growing realisation that we
need‘Green Power’ for sustainable development it is necessary
we embrace technology, using renewable sources of energy for power generation.
The world over renewable energy is a being seen as a definitive answer
to the perils that we face. Although renewable sources cannot be the
mainstay in the foreseeable future, they can definitely complement the
conventional sources of power like thermal power to overcome the acute
power shortages faced by our country. Amongst the entire gamut of renewable
energy solutions available, wind energy apart from cogeneration is being
seen as the most cost effective solution and closest to commercial viability.
The technology involved in renewable energy sources has become an extremely
sophisticated and advanced enterprise and encompasses the various disciplines
of engineering right from mechanical, electrical, civil and aerodynamics
apart from computers (hardware and software), pneumatics, hydraulics,
electronics and instrumentation. Wind turbines or wind energy generators
today, as they are also called, are masterpieces of engineering excellence.
Due to technological advancements wind turbines have become extremely
cost effective on per MW installation capacity – almost at par
with the cost of installation of thermal power plants. The intangible
benefits, in term of no recurring fuel costs and no environment hazards,
are too huge for future generations to be overlooked. The larger wind
turbines gain from the economies of scale and worldwide it has become
a standard practice of using large wind turbines of 1-1.3 MW capacity
for grid connected applications while the sub mega watt class is considered
mainly for remote power applications. For land applications, sizes ranging
between 1-1.3 MW are most preferred due to various factors including
the logistics and cost involved for installation. In India Suzlon offers
the mega watt class wind turbines with over 120 such large powerhouses
over 1MW capacity already functional in various wind parks across the
country. Larger multi mega watt machines are becoming popular in Europe
mainly for offshore applications since the scarcity of available land,
for
....CONTD
