Why No Offshore Wind Farms in INDIA || समुंदर में पवन चक्की क्यों नहीं 

#India #energy #windenergy
India is blessed with a coastline of about 7600 km surrounded by water on three sides and has good prospects of harnessing offshore wind energy. Considering this, the Government had notified the “Nationaloffshore wind energy policy”as per the Gazette Notification dated 6th October 2015. As per the policy, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy will act as the nodal Ministry for development of Offshore Wind Energy in India and work in close coordination with other government entities for Development and Use of Maritime Space within the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of the country and shall be responsible for overall monitoring of offshore wind energy development in the country. National Institute of Wind Energy (NIWE), Chennai will be the nodal agency to carryout resource assessment, surveys and studies in EEZ, demarcate blocks and facilitate developers for setting up offshore wind energy farms. Ministry set a targetof 5.0 GW of offshore wind installations by 2022 and 30 GW by 2030 which has been issued to give confidence to the project developers in India market.
The wind resources assessment carried out by the National Institute of Wind Energy (NIWE) gives total wind energy potential at 302 GW at 100 meter and 695.50 GW at 120 meter hub height. Out of the total estimated potential more than 95% of commercially exploitable wind resources are concentrated in seven states (Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu). The precious land resources required for onshore wind projects are gradually becoming a major constraint. With exhaustion of best windy sites, we expect upward movements of market determined tariffs for onshore wind energy in future.
Offshore wind power offers a plausible alternative in such a scenario. Absence of any obstruction in the sea offers much better quality of wind and its conversion to electrical energy. Offshore wind turbines are much larger in size (in range of 5 to 10 MW per turbine) as against 2-3 MW of an onshore wind turbine. While, the cost per MW for offshore turbines are higher because of stronger structures and foundations needed in marine environment, the desirable tariffs can be achieved on account of higher efficiencies of these turbines after development of the eco system.