Review of Wind Energy Development and Policy in India

Abstract

Due to growing population, economic growth, and socioeconomic development, energy is the most essential need. Worldwide, about 86.4% of energy is produced by fossil fuels. Globally, India ranks fourth among the countries that produce wind energy. The last five years’ growth in wind energy in India is about 16%. This growing Indian wind energy market is compared with the world scenario along with the state of Maharashtra in India, which is at the second position in the country, backed up by a detailed database. The review includes the details of Maharashtra’s wind energy progress in the last few years with predictions of the future for some years, considering factors such as wind project installations, total capacity, declared wind sites, wind power density at different altitudes, and so forth. This review also covers the potential wind sites with monitoring stations and velocity. The significance of this work is that it explores the wind potential and facilitates the reader to judge the upcoming market in this region and also for possible investment in wind power generation. It also briefly considers the scope and policies in wind energy development and investment.

Keywords:

• Wind energy
• wind potential areas
• wind power projects and operators
• Maharashtra
• India

1. Introduction

Day by day, the world population is rising at an exponential rate due to which the demand for energy is increasing. Generation of energy is considered an indispensable part of life and of national advance. There exists a direct relationship between development and energy consumption. Hence we need to produce more energy to be progressive.¹ To produce more energy, we depend on fossil fuels. The use of fossil fuels increases the emission of pollutants such as SO_x, NO_x, and carbon monoxide that have a detrimental effect on the environment.² Hence, the use of alternate energy sources such as wind, solar, and hydrogen is gaining importance.³ Wind has proven to be a very effective source of energy due to technological richness, infrastructure, and relative cost attractiveness.⁴,⁵ Wind can offer several advantages such as being inexhaustible, pollution free, and requiring minimal or no fuel.⁶ Renewable energy and especially wind energy does not emit any CO₂ in the atmosphere—thus it protects us from global warming as well. This is the reason why many countries are using wind energy as a source of energy.⁷ In developing countries, one-third of the world’s population still lives without electricity. Wind energy systems have made it possible to harvest cost-effective power generation.⁸,⁹ Wind turbines have traditionally been used for almost 200 years to generate electricity.¹⁰ The use of wind turbines for renewable energy has become one of the most viable substitute sources of power generation due to some compensations such as being lucrative and eco-friendly.¹¹,¹² Many companies, institutions, organizations, and researchers have reported that wind turbines with higher productivities are needed to realize the energy mandate.¹³,¹⁴ Countries that do not possess natural reservoirs of fuel stock need to be very careful and attentive to the use of alternate sources of energy, including wind.¹⁵

Wind energy is the most gifted and potential source of energy, even though its obtainability varies from place to place. However, the main drawback is to obtain a continual power supply. Wind turbine technology has seen a dramatic change in the last three decades. Continuous development in the technology of wind turbines such as power electronics, aerodynamics, and mechanical drive train design has made it an efficient source of energy. The disadvantage is of noise pollution, which is much less than other power plants.¹⁶

Recently, in the United States, many leading research organizations, namely the U.S. Department of Energy, National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Electric Power Research Institute (EPR), and the University of Colorado (CU) have explored how the contribution of wind power will make active power controls (APC) and how it could benefit the total power system economics, increase revenue, and improve the reliability and secure the national power systems. The APC will help to stabilize the electric grid as a generating source and control the repetitively fluctuating needs. NREL gives a complete view to approach the needs. Primary frequency control increases synchronous (spinning) machines that instantly provide energy to the grid by converting rotational wind energy. Researchers of NREL have shown that wind plants could earn additional revenue by providing APC. NREL has evaluated a timeframe that ranges from milliseconds to minutes to the lifetime of wind turbines and scales ranging from small-scale wind turbines to large-scale wind plants.¹⁷

2. World Wind Energy Development

The onshore wind energy potential is very large as paralleled to the total world power consumption. It is nearly 20,000 × 10⁹ to 50,000 × 10⁹ KWh per year against the total consumption of power of about 15,000 × 10⁹ KWh. The impending of wind energy depends on aspects such as average wind speed, wind speed distribution, turbulence intensities, and cost of wind turbine systems. The global wind energy council is operating in the wind energy sectors of several countries. These participants operate in more than 100 countries with over 2,500 organizations involved in hardware manufacture, project development, power generation, and finance consultancy on a build, operate, and transfer (BOT) basis. These participants are also involved in research and academics.¹⁶

Most of the developed countries are facing challenges to meet the power demand due to the increase in population and industrialization. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has given the directions toward the development of energy by wind: Wind energy technology must be cost-effective with increasing viability. The supporting research is also conducted in the area of wind development technology such as power system integration, resource information, industry support, and market acceptance.¹⁸ The power produced by wind technology of the future needs to be cost-effective and capable of competing with other energy such as from coal and natural gas.¹⁹ Present R&D is successful toward wind power development; many countries have adopted it as a main source of energy, and a number of growth studies have been presented.²⁰

According to the report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climatic Change (IPCC), by 2050 wind energy will play a major role in electricity generation among renewable energy. Its contribution will be about 80% of the world’s energy demand. Wind energy is known for its simplicity and limited space needs. Most of the houses and housing complexes can have independent energy production facility. Offshore wind power projects have become a trend in European countries.²¹ For a clean climate, renewable energy is a must, and it is going to last for a long time with less maintenance.²² In the development of renewable energy, there are many barriers including investment. All these barriers are not solved by only technological, social, political, or economic factors. There must also be a multidimensional approach toward identifying and explaining the fundamentals of these barriers to develop a viable solution.²³ At the end of 2009, the total installed capacity of wind turbines in the world was around 160 GW. By recent guidelines, the European Union (EU) wind electricity production will be 20% of energy demand by 2020.²⁴ In the year 2014, the potential sites for solar and wind power generation for three economic and industrial zones were predicted in Iran. This was predicted on the basis of dividing the year in two seasons: warm season (April–September) and cold season (October–March).²⁵ Such study needs to be done for the entire world as well.

In the United States, between 2008 and 2010 a substantial number of wind turbines were installed. Due to this excessive installation of wind turbines, radar communication got affected, which caused the abandonment of an estimated 20,000 MW of wind energy capacity. This resulted in the reduction in the growth of wind energy and also affected the target of the U.S. Department of Energy to produce 20% of energy by wind turbines by the end of 2030.²⁶ Such effects, if any, should also be thoroughly investigated.

Table 1. Installed wind power capacity of different countries in the world (MW).²⁹,³⁴

Sr. No	Nation	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	Last yr. % growth	6 yr. % growth
1	European Union	48.122	56,614	65,255	74,919	84,278	93,957	106,454	117,289	127,429	8.6	11.8
2	China	2,599	5,912	12,210	25,104	44,733	62,733	75,564	91,424	114,763	25.5	40
3	United States	11,633	16,819	25,170	35,159	40,200	46,919	60,007	61,091	65,879	7.8	18
4	Germany	20,622	22,247	23,903	25,777	27,214	29,060	31,332	34,250	39,165	14.3	8.6
5	Spain	11,630	15,145	16,740	19,149	20,676	21,674	22,796	22,959	22,987	0.1	5.5
6	India	6,270	7,850	9,587	10,925	13,064	16,084	18,421	20,150	22,465	11.5	15.3
7	United Kingdom	1,963	2,389	3,288	4,070	5,203	6,540	8,445	10,531	12,440	18.1	24.8
8	Italy	2,123	2,726	3,537	4,850	5,797	6,747	8,144	8,552	8,663	1.3	16.7
9	France	1,589	2,477	3,426	4,410	5,660	6,800	7,196	8,254	9,285	12.5	18.3
10	Canada	1,460	1,846	2,369	3,319	4,008	5,265	6,200	7,803	9,694	24.23	26.7
11	Denmark	3,140	3,129	3,164	3,465	3,752	3,871	4,162	4,772	4,845	1.5	7.4
12	Portugal	1,716	2,130	2,862	3,535	3,702	4,083	4,525	4,724	4,914	4.0	9.6
13	Sweden	571	831	1,067	1,560	2,163	2,970	3,745	4,470	5,425	21.3	31.5
14	Brazil	237	247	339	606	932	1,509	2,508	3,456	5,939	71.8	52.7
15	Poland	153	276	472	725	1,107	1,616	2,497	3,390	3,834	13.1	42.6
16	Australia	651	824	1,306	1,712	1,991	2,176	2,584	3,239	3,806	17.5	19.7
17	Turkey	65	207	433	801	1,329	1,799	2,312	2,959	3,763	27.2	45
18	Netherlands	1,571	1,759	2,237	2,223	2,237	2,328	2,391	2,693	2,805	4.1	3.9
19	Japan	651	1,528	1,880	2,056	2,304	2,501	2,614	2,661	2,789	4.8	6.9
20	Romania	2	7	10	14.1	462	982	1,905	2,600	2,954	13.6	579
21	Ireland	746	805	1,245	1,260	1,379	1,614	1,738	2,037	2,272	11.5	10.6
22	Mexico	84	85	85	520	733	873	1,370	1,992	2,381	19.5	115.5
23	Greece	758	873	990	1,087	1,208	1,629	1,749	1,865	1,980	6.1	12.7
24	Austria	965	982	995	995	1,011	1,084	1,378	1,684	2,095	24.4	13.7
25	Belgium	194	287	384	563	911	1,078	0	0		0	35.5
26	Norway	325	333	428	431	441	512	704	811		−	0
27	New Zealand	171	322	325	497	530	623	623	623	623	0	12.8
28	Taiwan	188	280	358	436	519	564	564	614	633	3.0	10.2
29	Bulgaria	36	70	120	177	500	612	0	0		0	70
30	South Korea	176	192	278	348	379	407	483	561	609	8.5	12.5
31	Egypt	230	310	390	430	550	550	550	550	610	0	6.3
	Other countries	1,756	1,157	1,603	2,125	3,631	4,146	5,582	8,383	379	0	4.6
	Total	74,151	93,927	121,188	157,899	197,637	238,035	282,482	318,137	364,540	14.5	26.2

The global wind power installation capacity has been increased in 2012 to 44,799 MW, and it became a total of 282,587 MW with an 18.7% increase on the 238,050 MW installed in 2011. More than half of the wind power generation is added in the year 2010–2011; the main contribution is from China, North America, and Europe. China alone had an installation of 18,000 MW in 2011 and 75,324 MW of wind power installed in 2012.²⁷ Other countries include: 21% Denmark, 18% Portugal, 16% Spain, 14% Ireland, and 9% Germany.²⁸ Presently, the global wind power installation capacity at the end of 2014 is 364,540 MW at a percentage growth of 26.2.²⁹

Several wind power installations have come up in the past few years. For example, in the United States, there is Roscoe Wind Farm in 2011 with a capacity of 781 MW. Other major installations are Thanet Wind Farm in the United Kingdom of 300 MW, followed by Homs Rev II 209 MW in Denmark. Some of the other largest wind farms under construction in different parts of the world are Bard Offshore 400 MW, Clycde Wind Farm 548 MW, Greater Gabbard wind farm 500 MW, Lincs Wind Farm 270 MW, London Array 1,000 MW, and another in the UK is 2014 with 12,440 MW.²⁷ At the end of 2014, UK wind energy is 65,879 MW.

China has witnessed a tremendous increase in renewable energy sources, especially after 2006. In fact, in the last 4–5 years, China had the maximum growth rate in terms of wind energy. In 2012 the total wind energy produced in China was 75,564 MW, which increased to 114,763 MW in 2014. It is forecasted that by 2020 China will become the world leader in wind energy production. China has set for itself a target of offshore wind development of 5 GW by 2015 and 30 GW by 2020. A report from the Chinese government has claimed that by 2020 China would be able to generate 440 TWh of electricity annually.³⁰,³¹

The next largest wind energy–producing country is Germany. The 2006 production of wind energy was 20,622 MW, which in 2014 became 39,165 MW; thus Germany became the third largest wind energy–producing country. The target set by Germany itself is to produce a total of 35% of power consumption by wind alone, which they wish to slowly achieve by phasing out energy production by nuclear power.³²

Spain is the country with the fourth largest wind energy production in the world. In 2006 the capacity was 11,630 MW, which almost doubled to 22,987 MW in 2014. Although the financial crises among other problems are there, Spain has put forth 20% of total energy from renewable sources, out of which 35.75% GW will be of wind power.³³

The detailed wind power installation capacity in the world is shown in Table 1.

3. Wind Energy Development in India

India is now fourth among the several countries that produce more electricity from wind power. In India, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) and the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) work in coordination with the state government’s wind energy department. Each state has its own wind energy department as in Maharashtra (MEDA). IREDA deals with identification of wind potential sites, wind resource assessment, setting up government policy, financing/profitability, availability of equipment, service, perception of investors, constraints/barriers and suggestions, and so on. IREDA has set up Anemometry Masts (AM) all over India to measure wind power density (WPD). AMs have recorded the qualifying criteria of WPD in the country, being above 200 W/m² at a height of 50 meters and at an 80-meter height above ground level, and the number of stations along with the potential power capacity and achievement up to 2014 is shown in Table 2.

Table 2. Detailed estimated gross potential wind power density.³⁵

		Wind power density (WPD range W/m^2 and no of stations				Potential (MW)
Sr. No.	State	200–250	251–300	301–350	351 and above	@ 50 M	@ 80 M	Achievement up to 2011 (MW)	Achievement up to 2014 (MW)
1	Andhra Pradesh	15	11	5	4
2	Gujarat	27	8	2	3	10,609	35,071	2,176.76	3,405.61
3	Karnatak	7	8	3	8	8,591	13,593	1,763.92	2,331.30
4	Madhya Pradesh	3	3	−	−	920	2,931	214.040	355.85
5	Maharashtra	18	11	4	−	5,439	5,961	2,304.35	4,024.65
6	Rajasthan	5	3	−	−	5,005	5,050	1,528.39	2,809.42
7	Tamil Nadu	8	6	9	24	5,374	14,152	5,867.16	7,254.01
8	Others					7,798	11,533	35.97	33.85
Total						49,130	102,788	14,097.48	20,953.53

In India, in 1985, demonstration type wind energy projects were started. In this, about 69.6 MW power projects were started at various locations in India. In 1986 five wind farms were started with a capacity of 3.3 MW power generation. The first commercial wind power generation started in 1990 at Kattadilalai, Muppandal, in Tamil Nadu. Until 1992, many wind turbines were installed in coastal areas of Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Orissa. After 1996, India has seen steep growth in wind power production. In 2004, Asia’s biggest and tallest wind turbine was built in India. IREDA under the guidance of MNRE has drawn long-term policy for the international market to invest in India for the development of wind power energy. It has also designed policy for local investors in the renewable energy development sector. In the last two decades, the growth of wind energy in India is from 41.3 MW in 1992 to 22,465 MW at the end of 2014.²⁹ Among the Indian states, Tamil Nadu has the highest growth in wind power energy development and is producing 5867.165 MW, which is 41.61% of total wind energy development in India by 2011 and 7,254 MW at the end of 2014.³⁵ Among other states, Maharashtra 4024.65 MW, Gujarat 3405.605 MW, Karnataka 2331.295 MW also achieved significant growth of 16.30%, 15.44%, and 12.51%, respectively, at the end of 2014. The center for wind energy technology (C-WET) has published a wind power density atlas of India; it shows the various areas of wind potential of more than 200 Watt/m² at 50 meter height.³⁵ The Indian wind atlas shows that India has the potential of producing wind energy of 49,130 MW at 50 m height and 102,788 MW at 80 m height above the ground level.³⁵

India currently has an installed wind power generation capacity of 22,465 MW. Also, barely 12% of the total power generation is from renewable sources. The remaining 88% of power depends on other energy resources. Offshore wind power policies should be developed; it helps to increase the wind power energy. European countries, most notably the UK and Germany, have adopted effective offshore policies. Resolving the Indian power sector the renewable energy policies have to be improved. These policies are classified into five categories, namely:

1. Government support

2. Fiscal and quota-based incentives

3. Local expertise

4. Capital for investments

5. Building and enabling ecosystem.

By these policies, the economy of India and power production can be improved.³⁶ Most of the renewable energy systems have some involvement with climate change because fuel is combusted at the time of production and also during operation. Accurate calculation of greenhouse gas has been carried out for each project.

The carbon intensity, energy return period, and carbon reimbursement period for the system can be calculated.³⁷ Energy is the prime agent of wealth and the important factor in the financial development of any country.³⁸ India has achieved the fifth position in the world by installing 6,018 MW capacity in 2008.³⁹ Now by the end of 2014, India is in the fourth position. The progress of wind energy depends on government backing and fiscal quota-based incentives, along with supporting R&D.⁴⁰,⁴¹ Geographical information system (GIS) is used to map the wind energy sources, which gives the idea of average wind velocity to assess the wind potential areas. It helps to divide the windy sites according to zones for optimum extraction, wind power projects, and site selection.⁴² Modern wind turbines are more efficient than previous wind turbines. Modern wind turbines produce annually about 180 times more electricity at less than half the cost per unit (KWh) than it used to 20 years ago. Modern wind turbines can produce 5 MW power at a rotor diameter of 126 m and are easy to install from a few MW to several hundred MW as wind farms.⁴³

A climatic model developed for the Indian national electricity market helps to study the relative balance in renewable and nonrenewable energy. It helps in the proper allocation of resources and their utilization and in the development of a country’s stronger economy and security.⁴⁴ Indian major growth in renewable energy has taken place in the last few years. Wind energy is an uncontaminated, sustainable, renewable supply besides being nonpolluting.³⁸ In India, wind energy is determined to be of the highest level of importance compared to other sustainable energy forms. New technologies have developed to get optimum power from the minimum wind with optimum design.³⁹

Presently, India is emitting CO₂ of about one ton/year-capita. To reduce this, India is keen on investing in renewable energy technologies. In the year 2011 investment in renewable energy technologies was $12.3 billion compared to the investment made in the previous year (2010: ˜$7.5 billion), a hike of nearly 36% in the turnover. This quantity is to be reduced by increasing the renewable energy and decreasing the consumption of fossil fuel. This indicates the large scope there is in India for the development of renewable energy. The present extenuation of CO₂ in the Indian energy sector is about 203 million tons with fixed a capacity of 24 GW in 2012. Nevertheless, a large amount of scope is seen in the Indian market for the growth of wind energy.⁴⁵

4. Wind Energy Policies in India

India needs to sustain an economic growth of at least 9% over the next 25 years if it is to eradicate poverty and meet its larger human development goals. The primary energy supply (including the gathered noncommercial one such as wood and dung) must increase at a rate of 5.8% annually for fueling the growth. Meeting this requirement is a challenge that needs to be addressed through an integrated energy policy. The broad vision behind the integrated energy policy is to reliably meet the demand for energy services of all sectors, including the lifeline energy needs of vulnerable households in all parts of the country with safe, clean, and convenient energy at the least cost.⁴⁶

4.1. Generation-Based Incentive

Generation-based incentive (GBI) of 50 paisa (half an Indian rupee) per unit was launched in December 2009. The purpose of this subsidy/incentive was to shift the mechanism of payment from installation-based to generation-based methods of rewarding wind farms. Even before the GBI was introduced, tax benefits in the form of accelerated depreciation were made available to the wind farm developers. But this mechanism failed to encourage the wind projects to produce more power. GBI is a way to encourage development of more efficient wind farms.

Another reason for GBI coming into picture was that although the development of renewable energy has been significant, the achievement cannot be compared to the potential that exists. There is a potential of more than 45,000 MW wind capacity against which only 11,000 MW has been commissioned. Also, it was felt that the fiscal incentives in place were not sufficient to meet the RPO targets under the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC). The GBI was introduced to act as a booster to the capacity addition. As against a target of 10,500 MW capacity additions in the 11th plan, less than 4,000 MW had been commissioned by December 2009, and at the end of 2014 the cumulative capacity increased to 22,465 MW.⁴⁷,⁴⁸

4.2. State Wise Tariff for Wind Power

Talking about wind energy in India, all started well with wind since around 2002 until the end of 2011 as it enjoyed the benefits of accelerated depreciation (AD) till April 2012. The generation-based incentive (GBI), announced in 2011, was later discontinued. Now the government has launched its first wind energy mission to give a boost to the wind energy sector and putting it in the same league as the high-profile solar mission. The National Wind Energy Mission (NWEM) has been launched. This might provide a great boost to the wind energy sector, which is experiencing slowdown since 2011 continually. In 2011 approximately 29,536 MW of renewable power capacity was installed in India, which included about 19,933 MW from wind, 2,079 MW from solar, 3,746 MW from small hydro, and 3,776 MW from bio energy.⁴⁷

India is the fourth largest wind power producer in the world with an installed total capacity of close to 23 GW in 2014.

4.3. Renewable Energy Certificate Scheme (REC)

Renewable energy is promoted by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), the central authority for all policies, regulations, and approvals relating to renewable energy.

It is supported by the Ministry of Power and the Central and State Electricity Regulatory Commissions (CERC and SERCs). CERC deals with the national grid and interstate transfer/trading of power, while SERCs manage regional distribution and transmissions. These play a key role in the promotion of renewable energy as they have the sole authority to ascertain the feed-in tariffs and other policy matters, such as the Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS). Energy Development Agencies (EDAs) represent the MNRE at the state level. Their main purpose is to assess and promote renewable energy frameworks for individual states and to advise the MNRE, state governments, and SERCs. IREDA promotes financial assistance for renewable energy and energy efficiency projects in India. The price of REC would be determined in power exchange. REC would be traded in power exchange within the forbearance price and floor price determined by CERC from time to time. CERC has determined the floor price and forbearance price on August 23, 2011 applicable from April, 2012 until FY 2016–17. The forbearance and floor price of solar and non-solar energy sources in 2012 are given in Table 3.⁴⁶

Table 3. Detailed solar and non-solar price.⁴⁶

	Non-solar REC (/MWh)	Solar REC (/MWh)
Forbearance Price	3,300	13,400
Floor Price	1,500	9,300

4.4. National Clean Energy Fund (NCEF)

NCEF was proposed in the Union Budget 2010–11 for funding research and innovative projects in clean energy technology. In many areas of the country, the pollution level has reached alarming proportions. While it must be ensured that the principle of “polluter pays” remains the basic guiding criterion for pollution management, there should also be a positive thrust for development of clean energy. And to build on the purpose of the NCEF, the government of India proposed to levy a clean energy process on coal produced in India at a nominal rate of Rs.50 per ton, which will also be applicable to imported coal. By the end of March 2012, NCEF was worth rupees 3,864 crore. The latest economic survey reveals that the government expects to collect rupees 10,000 crore under the Clean Energy Fund by the end of 2015. An allocation of rupees 200 crore from the fund was proposed for an environmental remediation program and another rupees 200 crore for the Green India Mission in 2013–14.⁴⁸

4.5. 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. The government wants to ensure an easy process for allocation of land and other formalities for setting up wind power projects.⁴⁷

5. Wind Energy Development in Maharashtra

Maharashtra is third largest state of India: it covers an area of 307,713 square kilometers. Its western side is aligned by the Sahyadri mountain; both sides of the mountain are gently steep, and the western side is surrounded by the Arabian Sea. The significant physical trait of the state is its plateau character. The state enjoys a hot tropical climate from March to June.

The average rainfall varies from 4,000 mm on the western side to 7,000 mm on its eastern plateau. Maharashtra is one of the Indian states producing the highest amounts of energy by renewable sources. It is in the second place in India. The detailed renewable energy potential in Maharashtra is shown in Table 4. The table clearly shows that among all the renewable energy, wind energy is most significant.³⁵

Table 4. Renewable energy potential in Maharashtra (MW).⁴⁸

Source	Wind (MW)	Small Hydro (MW)	Biomass (MW)	Bagasse cogeneration (MW)	Urban Waste (MW)	Industrial Waste (MW)	Total (MW)
Potential in country	450,000	103,240	160,000	50,000	17,000	17,000	797,240
Potential in Maharashtra	45,840	6,000	7,810	12,500	2,870	3,500	78,520
Percentage of total potential	10.20%	5.80%	4.90%	25.00%	16.90%	20.60%	9.80%
Potential vs. achievement	42.50%	35.20%	12.20%	21.00%	0.00%	1.80%	32.10%

Table 5. Renewable energy capacity additions of five years.⁴⁸

Source	2012–13	2013–14	2014–15	2015–16	2016–17
Wind (MW)	300	300	300	300	300
Biomass (MW)	25	25	25	25	25
Bagasse Cogeneration (MW)	50	50	50	50	50
Municipal Solid Waste (MW)	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Industrial Waste (MW)	100	100	100	100	100
Small Hydro (MW)	10.0	10.0	10.0	10.0	10.0
Solar Thermal, Solar PV, and others (MW	50.0	50.0	50.0	50.0	50.0
Total	535.0	535.0	535.0	535.0	535.0

The mean annual wind speed in Maharashtra ranges from 5.0 m/s to 7.0 m/s. The detailed projected renewable energy capacity in five years is as follows (Table 5).

5.1. Demonstration Wind Power Projects in Maharashtra

In Maharashtra, wind energy manufacturing is carried out by various agencies; among them, there are three main ones, namely, (1) Maharashtra Energy Development Agency (MEDA), (2) Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB), and (3) private agencies. The various projects done by MEDA in various places, their capacities, and year of commissioning are shown in Table 6.

Table 6. Demonstration wind power projects (MEDA).⁴⁸

SL No	Name of site	Taluka/District	Capacity of Projects in MW	Machine Capacity KW	Number of Machines	Year of Commissioning	Land Acquired by MEDA (Hectare)	Balance Land (Hectare)
1	Girye	Deogad/Sindhudurg	1.5	250	6	1994–95	47.6	41
2	Gudepachgani	Shirala/Sangli	1.84	230	8	1998–99	40.83	20.42
3	Chalkewadi	Satara/Satara	2	250	1250	1996–97	41.08	20.5
			Under Exec.
			5.0
4	Motha	Chikhaldara/Amravati	2.0	1000	2	2002–03	51.93	34

5.2. Wind Monitoring and Power Projects of MSEB

Another government agency, Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB), has also entered into wind power generation and has executed the projects at various places and commissioned them successfully. The power generation and supply is carried out by MSEB as shown (Table 7).

Table 7. Wind monitoring and wind power projects (MSEB).⁴⁸

Sr. No.	Name of site	Taluka/District	Capacity of Projects in MW	Machine Capacity KW	Number of Machines	Year of Commissioning	Land Acquired by MEDA (Hect)	Balance Land
1	Deogad	Deogad/Sindhudurg	0.55	55	10	1986–87	0	0
			0.55	55	10	1988–89	0	0
2	Dahanu	Dahanu/Thane	0.09	90	1	1987–88	0	0

5.3. Private Wind Power Projects in Maharashtra

To improve government policies, subsidies, state financial incentives, and other policies have to be developed.⁴⁹ The Maharashtra government gives subsidies for the development of private projects, which are successful in installing wind power stations. Private projects are successfully installed in nine districts of Maharashtra with 955 wind turbines and a capacity of producing 392.825 MW power (Table 8). India has one of the highest gained wind power installations in the world among the developing countries. This is achieved because of privatization in the wind power sector. India has analyzed very thoroughly the clean and environmentally friendly development of energy. More importance is given toward development of energy by sustainable methods for the development of the country’s economy.⁵⁰

Table 8. Private wind power projects in Maharashtra.⁴⁸

Sr. No	Site/District	No. of Wind Turbines	Subtotal	Wind Turbine Make	Capacity (kW per Turbine)	Total Cap. (MW)	Total (MW)
1	Brahmanwel/Dhule	5	9	Windia	600	3
		4			750	3	6
2	Kavdya, Dongar/Ahmednagar	57	57	Suzlon	1,000	57	57
3	Thoseghar/Satara	36	106	Vestas	225	8.1	30.86
		52		Enercon	230	11.96
		18		Enercon	600	10.8
4	Vankusavade/Satara	540	638	Suzlon	350	189	242.825
		7		Suzlon	1,000	7
		28		AWT	750	21
		25		Enercon	230	5.75
		21		Enercon	600	12.6
		1		IWPL	750	0.75
		4		IWPL	250	1
		1		Vestas	222	0.225
		11		Vestas	500	5.5
5	Chalkewadi/Satara	2	65	NEPC	225	0.45	22.57
		1		REPL	320	0.32
		16		Suzlon	350	5.6
		8		Vestas	225	1.8
		10		Vestas	500	5
		20		Enercon	230	4.6
		8		Enercon	600	4.8
6	Gudepachgani/Sangali	14	26	Enercon	230	3.22	10.42
		12		Enercon	600	7.2
7	Matrewadi/Satara	25	25	Enercon	230	5.75	5.75
8	Varekarwadi/Satara	15	15	Enercon	600	9	9
9	Dhalgaon/Sangali	14	14	Enercon	600	8.4	8.4
							Total: 392.825

5.4. Declared Wind Sites in Maharashtra

Wind energy generation depends on environmental factors such as wind speed, temperature, pressure, precipitation, and lightning, which will directly or indirectly affect energy produced. The salinity of the atmosphere in a particular region will affect the static and dynamic stresses on the wind turbine parts and result in cyclic thermal/mechanical/electrical environments that produce the failure of equipment and transmission line components.⁵¹ In India, different states have different policies for wind energy production. The data of all the states are collected and compiled in a systematic format, and the diffusion of innovation theory is used to predict growth and to rank the states. The state-level wind power data are used to develop the model called the diffusion model (Bass model). This model includes the parameters such as land availability, preferential tariffs, wheeling and banking, third-party sales (TPS), and state-specific incentives. This model can be used to predict the future growth of wind energy in different states.⁵² In Maharashtra there are 26 declared windy sites in different districts at about 20–25 m elevation, and their details are tabulated (Table 9).

Table 9. Declared windy sites.⁴⁸

Sr. No	Station	Tal/District	Elevation MASL	Annual Mean Annual Wind Speed (KMPH) measured at 20/25 M	Annual mean Wind Power density W/m^2 measured at 20/25 M	Extrapolated at 50 m
1	Alamprabhu Pathar	Hatkanagale/Kolhapur	790	20.5	164	224
2	Chalkewadi	Satara/Satara	1,160	20.2	206	218
3	Dhalgav	KavatheMahakal/Sangali	810	21.2	216	260
4	Matrewadi	Patan/Satara	898	20.8	211	253
5	Panchgani	Mahabaleshwar/Satara	1,372	18.4	133	205
6	Thoseghar	Satara/Satara	1,140	21.7	229	489
7	Vankusavade	Patan/Satara	1,100	21.2	231	293
8	Varekarwadi	Patan/Satara	920	21.04	257	216
9	Mander Deo	Wai/Satara	1,280	19.4	153	206
10	Kas	Javali/Satara	1,240	20.5	194	277
11	Amberi	Khatav/Satara	960	23	237	275
12	Palsi	Patan/Satara	970	18.85	137	254
13	Khandke	Ahmednagar/Ahmednagar	920	19.6	146	250
14	Kolgaon	Srigonda/Ahmednagar	800	20.5	177	238
15	Kavadya Donger	Parner/Ahmednagar	910	23.2	224	277
16	Panchpatta	Akole/Ahmednagagar	1,080	20.51	201	236
17	Gudepanchgani	Shirala/Sangali	903	19.8	178	296
18	Dongerwadi	Miraj/Sangli	820	21.4	179	284
19	Raipur	Sakri/Dhule	500	18.9	162	214
20	Takar Mouli	Sakri/Dhule	600	20.8	186	224
21	Brahmanwel	Sakri/Dhule	600	23.1	278	324
22	Lonavala	Manvel/Pune	560	15.5	122	285
23	Sautada	Patoda/Beed	800	21.2	167	223
24	Vijayadurg	Deovgad/Sindhudurg	100	19.6	207	253
25	Gawalwadi	Dindori/Nashik	740	19	140	278
26	Chakala	Nandurbar/Nandurbar	380	23.7	242	323

Table 10. Wind monitoring in progress.⁴⁸

SL No	Site	Tal./Dist.	Ele.	Approx. Available Land (Ha)	Approx. Wind power Cap. (MW)	Mast Height (m)
1	Kasarsirshi	Nilanga/Latur	679	500	50	25
2	Murud	Latur/Latur	716	1000	100	50
3	Rohina	Chakur/Latur	676	200	20	25
4	Bhud	Khanapur/Sangali	834	500	50	24
5	Vhaspet	Jath/Sangali	681	1000	100	50
6	Dhanagarwadi	Kankawli/Sindhudurg	191	500	50	25
7	Mahalunge	Deogad/Sindhudurg	196	600	60	50
8	Nerkewadi	Rajapur/Ratnagiri	267	500	50	25
9	Ambed	Sangameshwar/Ratnagiri	240	300	30	50
10	Deoud	Ratnagiri/Ratnagiri	232	500	50	25
11	Pacheri	Guhagar/Ratnagiri	172	500	50	50
12	Aundhewadi	Sinnar/Nashik	860	150	15	25
13	Kankora	Aurangabad/Aurangabad	920	400	50	25

5.5. Wind Power Production Capacity in Maharashtra

There are 13 sites identified in various places of Maharashtra where at a certain elevation the wind turbine can be installed with appropriate wind power to be produced as detailed in Table 10.

Table 11. List of non-feasible, closed wind monitoring stations.⁴⁸

SL No	Station	Taluka/District	SL No	Station	Taluka/District
2	Motha	Chikhaldara/ Amrawati	24	Pimpalgaon	Parner/Ahmednagar
1	Ranigaon	Dharni/Amrawati	23	Arag-Bedag	Miraj/Sangali
3	Mogarale	Man/Satara	25	Mhismal	Khultabad/Aurangabad
4	Deogad	Deogad/Sindhudurg	26	Pirtanda	Udgir/Latur
5	Malvan	Malvan/Sindhudurg	27	Kuchi	K-Mahankal/Sangali
6	Shaptshringigad	Kalwan/Nashik	28	Vinchur	Nifad/Nashik
7	Vengurla	Vengurla/Sindhudurg	29	Rajapur	Yeola/Nashik
8	Roti	Daund/Pune	30	Malegaon	Nandgaon/Nashik
9	MasaiPathar	Panhala/Kolhapur	31	Kamrawad	Shahada/Nandurbar
10	Nandivade	Ratnagiri/Ratnagiri	32	Thokalmalegaon	Kannad/Aurangabad
11	Kotoli	Shahuwadi/Kolhapur	33	Vagera	Panvel/Raigad
12	Khokade	Man/Satara	34	Vedi	Palghar/Thane
13	Mahi-Jalgaon	Karjat/Ahmednagar	35	Suryamal	Mokhada/Thane
14	Dhakale	Ambegaon/Pune	36	Mal	Shahapur/Thane
15	Ambral	M-Shwar/Satara	37	Davdi	Khed/Pune
16	Jambhulmure	Satara/Satara	38	Bedarwadi	Patoda/Beed
17	Waghapur	Patan/Satara	39	Kogil	Karvir/Kolhapur
18	Rajachikurli	Khatav/Satara	40	Shirasgaon	Sangamner/Ahmednagar
19	Renavi	Khanapur/Sangali	41	Kharumbapada	Jawhar/Thane
20	Alkud	Kavathe-Mahakal/ Sangali	42	Kogda	Jawhar/Thane
21	Kavaldara	Tuljapur/Osmanabad	43	Rajewadi	Ambegaon/Pune
22	Kamathi	Khatav/Satara	44	Elephanta	Uran/Raigad

5.6. Wind Power Stations Closed in Maharashtra

Some of the sites that are closed and not feasible for work are listed by the MEDA as shown (Table 11).

6. Comments and Discussion

The above detailed study and analysis of data at various sites in the world, in India, and in the state of Maharashtra indicates that India is facing the challenge of sustaining its rapid economic growth. The threat of climate arises from the emissions of greenhouse gases emitted from continuous generation of energy from nonrenewable sources, intensive industrial growth, and high ingestion lifestyles. While engaged with the international community to jointly and supportively deal with this hazard, India needs a national approach to, first, acclimate to climate change and, second, to further augment the ecological sustainability of India’s enlargement path.

Climate change may adversely affect India’s natural resources and also the livelihood of its people. This climate change will affect agriculture, water, and forestry. In charting out the development in India, the above data analysis clearly indicates that India has a wider spectrum of choices in the sustainable development of energy because it is at an early stage of development and that wind energy would be one of the viable options.

Identifying the global climate change, India is actively participating in the UN Framework convention on climate change. The main objective is to establish an accurate, compatible, and equitable sustainable development of energy based on the principles designed by the United Nations Framework convention on climate change (UNFCCC). India is not lagging behind in the development of renewable energy and protecting the climate. In parallel to this, India has developed the organization known as Indian National Action Plan for Climate Change (NAPCC). NAPCC has made the target of producing approximately 15% of the energy mix of India by 2020. To achieve this target, the Indian Ministry of Power launched the Renewable Energy Certificate (REC) mechanism in November 2010. This REC will assess the performance of the adjusting wind turbine projects for low-cost renewable energy generation. REC has decentralized distribution in and generation of renewable energy to different states. The participation in REC as per state data is Tamil Nadu 27%, Maharashtra 23%, and Uttar Pradesh 22%. REC helps to make the best policies for the state to implement on existing energy generation projects.⁵³

The Indian electric supply system consists of a centralized generation system. Nowadays a centralized system is not capable of handling all the problems related to conventional energy. It is difficult for the authorities to visit each and every site and make the decision. For this reason the work will slow down and get delayed. This centralized electricity supply system is to be decentralized with the authority of the decision on the development of conventional energy.

This electric utility has been restructured into a number of subcontrolling authorities capable of making decisions on the development of small-scale projects. Nowadays the resources are being utilized through small and modular energy systems known as distributed generation system (DGS) based on renewable energy resources. This helps to start small-scale projects.⁵⁴

7. Conclusion

It is essential that clean energy be produced in large amounts at reasonably less cost. One way of doing this is to use nonconventional energy sources such as wind energy. This review has discussed in detail the current position of wind energy in India with a focus on the situation in the state of Maharashtra. Here stock is taken of the capacity of the state of Maharashtra for possible wind energy production. The data of present installations, their capacity, and windy sites along with wind-power density has been given in detail. A detailed literature survey has been done, and sufficient relevant information has been provided.