Re-powering India: packing potential, lacking conviction

Re-powering India: packing potential, lacking convictionApr 16, 2012

India’s wind energy market has enormous potential, with re-powering promising to be a key market driver. But grid integration issues must first be resolved.

By K.Venkateshwar.Rao in New Delhi

In the last decade, India’s wind energy market has witnessed robust growth, coasting on a compound average growth rate of 27.2 percent. This momentum is forecast to continue. The installed capacity of wind generation is set to grow four-fold over the next decade from a current installed base of over 16,000MW

(at the end of 2011). A significant part of this growth promises to come from re-powering India’s ageing turbines.With the number of ageing wind farms (older than 15 years and some between 10-15 years) growing in wind rich states of Tamil Nadu and elsewhere, the business of re-powering and retrofitting is poised for massive growth in India.

In addition, growing interest among independent power producers (IPPs) to buy old wind farms at attractive valuations, keeping in mind the land and existing infrastructure, vindicates the belief that repowering business is geared up to witness significant growth in India.

Technically speaking, about 3000 MW of wind farm capacity can be re-powered in India. However, practical considerations may limit this to nearly 1000 MW says Jami Hossein, Co-founder, WinDForce Management Services. The older wind farms located in the windy terrains of Muppandhal, Pannakudi and Kayathar in the southern districts of Tamil Nadu-Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi, Nagercoil, Kanyakumari and Coimbatore offer huge opportunity for re-powering in India. From 1985 – 1995, 250 kW turbines dominated India’s wind energy market. Over the subsequent decade, wind turbines of up to 1.25 MW were installed. All were installed at hub heights varying from 20 – 70 m. These days, the predominant commercial technology nowis being set up at 90-100 m height.

Increased height can make a lot of difference to energy harnessed. Jammi explains wind speed of 5 m/s observed at 30 m height will be nearly 6 m/s at 90 m height. Apart from the increased tower height, the new turbines also come with more efficient rotors and control strategies that lead to higher generation.

This alone could yield as much as 50% more energy output for each MW replaced with new wind turbine. By replacing the 250kw models with 2MW or higher models at the same site, the potential increase in energy generation is manifold, varying from site to site.

Gamesa, a leading turbine manufacturer and wind energy developer, has commissioned two re-powering projects in Tamil Nadu-Coimbatore in 2011. The company is bullish on India’s re-powering’s market potential, which it estimates to be approximately 1.5-2GW over the next couple of years. This repowering trend in India could translate into sales of over US$3.8 billion (Rs 19,000 crore) for repowering companies.

Lacking incentive Despite the potential for repowering Tamil Nadu’s ageing wind farms, industry leaders are cautious and appear to be adopting a ‘wait and watch’ approach. This is largely due to the complexities involved with repowering. Industry leaders opined that the in the Indian context, the situation is a complex because wind farms tend to be owned by ‘clusters’.

In a given cluster, there are many owners of individual wind turbines, but ideally all owners in the cluster must agree to repower. Getting unanimous agreement on the same terms is a challenge. Many in the cluster could be locked into a PPA, which has no termination provision. Because most of these sites boast a strong wind resource, the turbine owners may still be generating at high plant load factors (PLFs). Since most have already paid back debtors, the revenue stream is almost free to them, which undermines any incentive to embark on a new project.

As Ishwar Hegde, Chief Economist, Suzlon notes, “The market for retrofits and re-powering will grow, especially from 2015 or so, if such moves are incentivized”.

S.R.Venkatapathy-Director, Trinity Advisory Corporation, says re-powering has yet to mature as a business practice. He explains that currently, most Indian turbine manufacturers India are concentrated on greenfield projects and have yet to embark on re-powering programs. Transmission upgrades first Technology upgrade requires extensive research into existing challenges associated with re-powering wind turbines. Mr Venkat says poor grid infrastructure continues to hamper integration of installed capacity. This, he says, poses a threat to re-powering. Large-scale wind energy integration with the grid has fallen short of expectations, making Electricity Distribution Companies (DISCOMS) increasingly reluctant to accept wind energy generated.

A situation has arisen where power-starved regions are unable to be served wind energy. Federal States such as Tamil Nadu have huge wind energy generation potential. Despite leading India’s installed base, integration of wind power has remained inadequate. As is the case many other countries, both developed and developing, India must address the issue of integration of renewable energies before its full wind energy potential can be realised.

To respond to this article, please write to the Editor: Rikki Stancich
Image courtesy of: Suzlon
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