Vijayapura district is gradually foraying into the field of wind energy on a large scale by trying to tap the abundantly available natural resource.
Though the district is geographically not located on a higher altitude or has many hills, the vast open and elevated areas of the district are being used to install wind turbines to generate power.
According to sources, the district will have many wind turbines which would generate nearly 700 MW of power in months to come as several private firms including the Hyderabad-based Greenko have obtaining contracts to generate wind power.
The Greenko Company has already started generating some 180MW of power by installing turbines in Ingaleshwar village of Basavanabagewadi taluk, the sources said.
The company has planned to generate 50 MW of power in Kumatagi village in the first phase, and equal quantum of power from the same village in the second phase. In Shivanagi village, the company plans to generate 200 MW of power.
The company is reportedly establishing substations with the help of HESCOM for supplying the electricity to power grids.
Three other private companies have together proposed to generate some 303 MW of power in the district by installing hundreds of wind turbines.
According to reports, the companies are using the high-end technology in wind energy sector by importing machines and units from the Netherlands.
The sources said that each turbine could generate 1.2 MW to 2 MW of power. Since barren land is often used for installing the turbines, the cost of unfertile land in the district has increased substantially, bringing cheers to the farmers who have such land.
Though the generated power is directly supplied to the central grids for distribution, the sources believe that it would, to a great extent, mitigate the power crisis in the district.
