Tamil Nadu loses 800MW of wind power to poor transmission

• 11 years ago (2013-05-23)
• David Flin

North America 1021 Renewables 776

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K Kasturirangan, Chairman of the Indian Wind Power Association, said that even though wind flows have been high in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, insufficient transmission capability has meant that around 100 million units of wind powered generation has been lost. He said that even before the peak wind season in July, wind flow in Tamil Nadu has been at surprisingly high levels due to cyclone Mahasen in the Bay of Bengal. Generation reached 4000MW, but only about 3200MW could be evacuated and used by the electricity board.

P P Gupta, Managing Director of Techno Electric and Engineering, which has over 100MW of wind assets in the state, said: “Power is generated in the south, and has to be transmitted to north Tamil Nadu. The problem now is as good or bad as last year, but it will get worse as the peak season approaches.”

According to data from TNEB the state electricity board, the previous high last year was about 4200MW, in the peak months of July-August. This year has already seen good wind generation. However, TNEB has been able to evacuate only up to 3000MW from wind turbines. Industry sources say that wind turbines are being shut down for several hours a day due to a shortage of evacuation infrastructure.