As land availability is a challenge for renewable projects in Tamil Nadu, existing wind farm lands could be used for putting up solar panels, pointed out Ajay Devaraj, Secretary-General, Indian Wind Power Association (IWPA).
“Tamil Nadu has the second highest wind energy capacity in the country. But the challenge in Tamil Nadu is the lack of land to set up more wind farms,” said a statement.
“One solution is re-powering, which is basically upgrading the capacity of the existing wind turbines to produce more. However, the ‘wake effect’ — where windmills nearby can affect each other’s performances — makes it a challenge to upgrade wind turbine capacity as it stands to reduce the effectiveness of the neighbouring wind farms,” he said while addressing a conference on Renewable Energy — The Future Syndrome, Opportunities and Challenges, organised by The Andhra Chamber of Commerce.
“A solution to this issue that the IWPA has recommended to the authorities was that solar panels could be put up in existing land where wind turbines currently are. This will help build transmission lines to take up both solar and wind-generated energy. The combination of these two leads to a better plant capacity utilisation of 60 per cent which is much higher than only one of the above sources. If storage is also added, then the battery configuration this plant would need would be of much lesser cost and thus, economical,” he explained.
By 2040, India targets 49 per cent of its total electricity generated to be from renewable energy sources. By 2029-30, the country estimates the share of renewable energy would be around 44 per cent with the reduction of thermal energy from the current 78 per cent to 52 per cent. India also targets the production of 5 million tonnes of green hydrogen by 2030, said the statement.
“Renewable energy is a key area for adoption for best industrial practices as India ranks 4th globally for total renewable energy installed capacity, 4th in wind power, and 4th in solar power capacity,” said Indira Dutt, President, Andhra Chamber of Commerce and Chairperson and Managing Director.