Soon, one might see innumerable fans spinning from far away in Vijayapura, with the district, like Chitradurga, gradually foraying into large-scale harvesting of wind energy in order to effectively tap the abundantly available natural resource.
Though the district is neither located on a higher altitude nor has too many hills, it has vast open and elevated areas where wind turbines are being installed to generate power.
According to sources, the district would soon have enough wind turbines to generate nearly 700 MW of power in the months to come, as several private firms including Hyderabad-based Greenko has obtaining contract to generate wind power.
Greenko has already started generating some 180 MW of power by installing turbines in Ingaleshwar village of Basavanabagewadi taluk, the sources said.
The company plans to generate 50 MW of power in Kumatagi village in the first phase, and an 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 Hubli Electricity Supply Company (HESCOM) to supply electricity to the power grids.
Other projects
Three other private companies besides Greenko have together proposed to generate around 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 the wind energy sector by importing machines and units from the Netherlands.
The sources said that each turbine could generate from 1.2 MW to 2 MW of power. Since barren land is often used for installing turbines, the cost of unfertile land in the district has increased substantially, bringing cheers among the farmers who have such land.
Though the generated power is directly supplied to the central grids for distribution, the sources believe that since the power would be generated in the district itself, it would, to a great extent, mitigate the power crisis in the district.
