Wind power industry seeks stable policy, better forecasting

Chennai, Nov 25: There should be a stable and uniform national policy to make wind power projects financially attractive, a top industry official said here Tuesday.

"China has overtaken India to the fourth position in the world in terms of installed wind power capacity. There is a negative growth in wind energy projects this fiscal as compared to fiscal 2006-07," said D.V. Giri, chairman of industry lobby, the Indian Wind Turbine Manufacturers Association (IWTMA).

Addressing Wind India 2008, a conference-cum-exhibition on wind power organised by World Institute of Sustainable Energy (WISE) here Tuesday, he said the wind power capacity addition will be around 1,545 MW in India this fiscal.

"Repowering or installing high-powered wind turbines in the place of old, lower capacity machines, intercropping of small wind mills amongst bigger machines, development of offshore wind farms and development of hybrid turbines are some of the important needs of the industry."

According to Andrew Garrad, CEO of the UK-based Garrad Hassan and Partners, India needs better wind forecasting techniques so that predictability of the wind power generation is better.

"Short term - hourly and daily basis - forecasting is important for the success of this sector."

Proper estimates of wind potential and speed will enable investors in choosing appropriate turbine size so as to get optimum return on investment.

"Hybrids and better wind power forecasting would address the one major complaint about wind power, that is intermittent power," said Chintan Shah, vice-president of Suzlon Energy Ltd.

With 18 more wind turbine manufacturers to start rolling out their turbines in India over the next one and half years, G.M.Pillai, director general of WISE, said, "By 2010 the total wind turbine production capacity in India will be 10,000MW. We have to look for overseas markets for the turbines."

--IANS