The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : State’s renewable energy generation set to increase

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Monday, Feb 18, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

State’s renewable energy generation set to increase

B. S. Satish Kumar

It is likely to touch 2,000 MW by March

Most of the new energy will be from windmills
Karnataka stands third in terms of wind energy generation

BANGALORE: Karnataka’s renewable energy generation is expected to increase by nearly 200 MW by the end of March.

The total installed capacity of renewable energy from various sources, which is presently close to 1,800 MW, is expected to touch nearly 2,000 MW by March as some of the new plants are set to commence operation.

Karnataka Renewable Energy Development Limited (KREDL) Managing Director B. Shivalingaiah told The Hindu that most of the new energy would be from windmills. At present the state’s total wind energy generation capacity is around 936 MW. This is expected to touch around 1100 MW by March-end.

Mr. Shivalingiah said several wind energy projects which are in the final stages of completion would commence operation from March. These projects are spread over in different districts, including Gadag and Belgaum.

Of late, wind energy generation is picking up in the State and Chitradurga district has emerged as the wind energy bowl of the State by generating nearly 400 MW of power.

Earlier, the wind mills used to be set up only in the hilly zones.

However, they are now being set up even on plain lands which have high wind speed and do not have any obstruction, Mr. Shivalingaiah said.

Karnataka now stands third in terms of wind energy generation in the country after Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra.

The gap between Maharashtra and Karnataka would reduce after the new addition to the grid in March. The good news is that the State is expected to either catch up with Maharashtra or overtake it by the middle of this year when some more wind energy projects are likely to commence operation.

The statistics show that the State has seen a good increase in its renewable energy generation over the last five years by adding about 1,400 MW to the power grid. But experts feel that the increase should have been more rapid as the State has a huge potential for harnessing renewable energy.

The State is believed to have a potential to harness more than 10,000 MW of renewable energy from wind, co-generation, small hydro and biomass sources alone. The wind energy potential alone is expected to be around 7,500 MW in the State.

Mr. Shivalingaiah feels that harnessing of renewable energy in an aggressive way would go a long way in bridging the gap between the demand and availability of power in the State which is facing a serious shortage of power. Renewable energy projects taken up so far have brought in an investment of about Rs. 12,000 crore.

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