On improving wind energy generation

News: The Tamil Nadu government’s “Tamil Nadu Repowering, Refurbishment and Life Extension Policy for Wind Power Projects 2024” was stayed by Madras High Court after wind energy generators approached the court, raising objections against the policy.

1. Wind Energy is a form of renewable energy that captures the power of wind to generate electricity.

2. Advantages of wind energy include: A) Environment friendly B) Cost effective C) Renewable source of energy D) Scalability

3. Challenges associated with wind energy are intermittency of wind power, visual and noise impact, large land use requirement and impact on wildlife, especially birds.

4. Globally, India is ranked 4th in terms of installed wind energy capacity after China, United States and Germany.

5. Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh are leading states for installed wind energy capacity, collectively contributing 93.37% of the country’s installed wind power capacity.

6. Wind turbines that are more than 15 years old or have less than 2MW capacity can be completely replaced with new turbines. This is known as repowering.

7. Tamil Nadu has the highest repowering potential with over 7,000 MW of installed capacity that can be replaced or refurbished.

8. Life Extension refers to wind generators taking up safety measures in the old turbines to extend their life.

9. Policies by Government of India to promote wind energy: A) National Offshore Wind Energy Policy, 2015 B) Policy for Repowering of the Wind Power Projects, 2016 C) National Wind-Solar Hybrid Policy, 2018