Wind energy producers in the State hope for better evacuation of wind power this year as the National Institute of Wind Energy (NIWE) plans to provide forecast of wind power availability for the entire State soon.
Tamil Nadu has nearly 7,500MW of installed wind energy capacity and the NIWE has started analysing the data and giving the forecast for four substations, one at Kayathar and three in Udumalpet. It is doing so for the last four days.
K. Boopathi, Head of Wind Resource Assessment unit of NIWE, told The Hindu over phone on Friday that they were providing the forecast in association with Vortex Factoria de Calculus, Spain.
Instruments are expected to be installed at all the 134 wind power substations in the State in another 45 to 50 days.
Some private wind farm developers have tied-up with foreign companies and offer wind-farm wise forecasting in the country. However, in Tamil Nadu, NIWE will provide substation wise forecasting of wind power availability for every 15 minutes for the next six to 10 days. Of the seven-eight States in the country that are major wind power producers, Tamil Nadu is the first to go in for Statewide forecasting of wind power availability.
The forecasting service will give an indication of the wind power that will be available and energy generation from other sources can be increased or reduced accordingly. It will, thus, help in better management of the power situation in the State.
Wind energy producers say that evacuation of wind energy was high in the State a couple of years ago. It had dropped during the last two years.
However, with the forecast service available during the wind season (May to October) this year, evacuation was expected to improve.
