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Global Wind Day 2012
Since 2007, 15th June has been
designated Global Wind Day. Starting as a European initiative, it went global in 2009 and is now co-ordinate by
the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) and the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC), through an extensive partnership network.
This year hundreds of events, activities, competitions and workshops of
all types, involving thousands of people, are being organised in over 40
countries. Global Wind Day events happened in 30 countries around the world in
2011. In France there were 15 events, in Austria, journalists leapt from the top of a
turbine and abseiled to the ground. In Japan there were 10 events, field trips to wind farms, experimental wind energy facilities
and making wind turbines.
For well over two thousand years wind power has been used to grind corn,
pump water and drive a wide range of industrial machines for wood and metal working.
Wind-powered pumps were used to drain the Dutch polders and the English fenland. In arid regions such as the Australian Outback and the
American
Mid-West, wind pumps have provided water for livestock and irrigation
for generations. In cereal-growing areas of the UK, many windmills remain, some restored
to working order, some in various stages of decay, but many now
converted for family accommodation.
Wind-power in India
India is the world's fourth largest wind-power
market and the fifth largest wind power producer in the world after Germany, the
USA, Denmark and the UK, with a wind power generation capacity of 1,267 MW, of which 1,210 MW has come through commercial projects.
The wind energy potential in India has been estimated at 45,000 MW.
India is also one of the world's biggest wind power users. Years of tax incentives have helped make India one of the fastest-growing
markets for wind power, a major component of renewable energy.
Wind is one of the largest RE source in the country, based on mean annual wind power density
(MAWPD). The Wind Resource Assessment Programme (WRAP) carried out in India to reassess the wind potential was one of the largest
programmes of this kind in the world covering around 900 wind monitoring and mapping stations in 24 states and union territories. This programme is being implemented by the state
nodal agencies (SNAs) and C-WET through the Wind Energy Survey Project. WRAP has so far identified 192 potential sites in 13
states.States with high wind power potential are Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.
About 6.5 billion units of electricity have been fed to various state grids from wind power projects.
Almost 80% of the power thus generated has been used for captive consumption, and the rest sold to the grid or to a third party.
Some 26 project sites have been developed in the high potential states under the Demonstration
Programme, resulting in a capacity of 57 MW. At least 15 domestic companies are manufacturing wind power
turbines and components, either in joint venture or license production from international collaborators, achieving an annual turnover of Rs 1,500
crore. Wind electric generators ranging from 55 to 750 kW rating have been developed and manufactured in the country by using the latest technologies.
State-of-the-art wind power technologies are now indigenously vailable in India.
An annual production capacity of 500 MW has been established. Wind electric generators up to 750 kW unit capacity are now being
manufactured. Blades, a crucial component of wind turbines, is manufactured in India. Nearly 80 per cent indigenisation has been achieved
-R&D activities have been undertaken through research institutions, laboratories, technical centres. |
India, with its thousands of miles of coastline, is suited to wind power. Its
wind power potential is estimated at 45,000 megawatts (MW), about a third of total energy consumption.
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