What's Trending in Wind Power Development Technology in India?

By Nina Varghese

image: depositphotos

Newer technologies in wind power generation have greatly improved in the last twenty years. India also has benefited from these developments in wind power technology.
One of the emerging trends in India has been the multi mega watt turbines which can be installed at higher hub levels. The diameters of these rotors are larger than the earlier ones so the energy generated is more from one unit. The increase in altitude helps the wind turbine generators utilize the benefits of more powerful winds and reduced turbulence.

The installation of bigger turbines has seen a ten per cent increase in capacity from 1998 to 2010. The wind turbine generators which have been installed in India have seen a growth; 767 kW in 2004 to more than 1000 kW five years later. More than half the newly installed wind power turbines in India are these mega watt generators.

Two factors have resulted in more power being generated than estimated earlier: the advances made in technology and increasing the height of the hubs. In India, wind speeds fall in the moderate to low range, except in certain parts of the coast in the southern state of Tamil Nadu and in the Rann of Kutch, in the western state of Gujarat.