Maharashtra Energy Development Agency

:: Wind Power - Overview

Investor-friendly policy shift by the Government of India and Government of Maharashtra since 1983-84, has resulted in effective commercialization of wind power sector. Out of the total installed capacity of 20492MW renewable power in the country and Wind Power projects share 14156MW.

That puts India as the fourth largest producer of wind power in the world:

Germany (27126 MW)
USA (40216 MW)
Spain (20674 MW)
India (14156 MW)
Denmark (3805 MW)
China (38280 MW)

Wind Potential Assessment

Assessed wind power potential in the country is about 49130 MW, while in Maharashtra it is 5439 MW. Sites with Annual Mean Wind Density above 200 W/m2 are considered suitable for wind power projects. 339 such sites have been identified in the country, of which 40 sites are in Maharashtra.Wind speed monitoring is in progress at 211 Sites To instill confidence in the investors, demonstration projects worth 7.34 MW installed capacity were initiated in the state with support from MNRE, installed by MEDA. Also, MEDA with its own funds has set up 3.75 MW additional demonstration Wind Power Project as a source of revenue generation. Thus the total capacity of demonstration Wind Power Project by MEDA is 11.09 MW in Maharashtra.

Wind Monitoring Station

Energy Generated

Wind Farm

Investor-friendly policies of the Government of Maharashtra and technical viability of demonstration projects have attracted private investment of more than Rs 11895 crores in the wind sector so far. Nearly 2309 MW of private wind power projects have been installed in the State upto Mar-2011.

Technological Advancement

Commercial viability of wind power projects is gradually increasing due to technological advancement. Replacement of old 250 kW wind turbines of 30 m height with 1.0 MW single unit size of 50 m has provided an edge for attractive investment. Higher wind power density due to increased height, lower installation cost per MW and less land requirement makes a case for choosing higher unit size of wind turbines. Fortunately, wind turbines of 1 MW are being manufactured in the country and still higher capacity units of 1.25 MW and 1.5 MW are under trial at Center for Wind Energy Technology (C-WET), Chennai. The production capacity of domestic wind turbines industry is 500 MW per year, which can go up to 750 MW per year based on demand.

See List of the Potential sites for Wind Power Projects in Maharashtra Declared by MNRE/C-WET Chennai