Cultivable Land in India Has Highest Potential for Wind Power Generation
The race to increase the renewable energy generation capacity has gone global in the past few years. Likewise, Indian subcontinent has a high potential for solar and wind power generation. According to a recent report by the National Institute of Wind Energy, the country’s cultivable land areas have great potential for installing wind energy projects.
India’s cultivable land has highest potential for wind power generation / Image: Citi Blog
The report states that compared to wasteland and forest land, the installation of wind energy projects at an estimated 347 GW at 120 meters above the ground level on cultivable land could increase the potential of power generation.
Titled ‘India’s Wind potential Atlas at 120 agl (above ground level)’, the report said,
Out of the total estimated 695 GW potential, 340 GW could be installed in wasteland, 347 GW in cultivable land and 8 GW in forest area. Wind potential of 132 GW is possible in high potential areas with CUF greater than 32% and wind potential of about 57 GW is possible in the areas with CUF greater than 35%. With increase land area utilization, the wind potential with over 35 percent capacity utilization factor (CUF) can reach up to 98 GW.
The report further noted,
While areas with high wind potential and high CUF can be developed into large wind farms, those with lower CUF could be considered for distributed generation and also for wind solar hybrid for better utilization of the renewable energy resources.
It is noted that southern and western states are majorly contributing to the wind potential of the country while other areas with lower wind potential have emerged in other states.
High potential areas are distributed in Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu with scattered potential in Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Jammu & Kashmir and Rajasthan. Regions in Punjab, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Bihar, West Bengal, Odisha and the North Eastern States have medium wind potential.
As per the report, the future land allocation scenario would depend on supportive land policies of different state governments and competing for the demand for land for other sectors. The country’s installed wind capacity has grown on an average of 20 percent since the last 20 years.
The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy had recently said that India has an estimated offshore wind energy potential to generate about 70,000 MW power and is planning to develop the first offshore wind energy project of 1 GW capacity off the coast of Gujarat.
