Textile industry representatives have expressed concern over the State power utility not evacuating power from the wind mills and allowing them to idle during the peak wind season.
The textile industry is among the largest investors in wind energy accounting for over 3,000 MW of captive wind power capacity out of the total 7000 MW in the State.
Estimates of the capacity being backed down, a term used to indicate that the wind mill power is not being utilised, range from 30 per cent of the capacity, according to the South Indian Mills Association (SIMA), to over 40 per cent according to wind energy associations.
Representatives of SIMA met with the senior executives of the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board while the Tamil Nadu Spinning Mills Association has taken up the issue with the Electricity Minister.
S. Dinakaran, Chairman, SIMA, said the textile sector has invested in about 3,000 MW of captive wind power generation in the State.
The utility had exploited wind power up to June but subsequently wind mills were backed down and the power not evacuated.
At the meeting with the Electricity Board, the officials had assured them that efforts would be taken to address the problem.
According to the Spinning Mills Association, between June 21 and 25 alone the loss in generation was about 120 million units of electricity. This was at a time when the State is facing a power shortage.
The association has pointed out that the Tamil Nadu Electricity Regulatory Commission has given wind energy a ‘must run’ status in an order dated June 20, 2013, as wind energy is a renewable energy without input cost in generation. But the utility has not given it the priority in evacuation.