Air Energy Potential in India: Ways & Means

There is huge activity in air power, pan-India with the installed capacity increasing to 12,000 MW. India today has the fifth largest installed capacity of air power in the world with 11087MW installed capacity and potential for on-shore capabilities of 68000MW. However the plant load factor (PLF) in air power generation is very low, often in the single digits. The increase in interest in air energy is due to investment subsidies, tax holidays, and government action towards renewable energy playing a big part in nation’s energy system. There is a need to generate environment friendly power that not only raises energy efficiency and is sustainable too. The time has come for moving to generation based subsidies and understanding the drawbacks associated with air power in India. The capital cost of air power is third higher than conventional thermal power; further electrical problems like voltage flicker and variable frequency affect the implementation of air farm. However advances in technologies such as offshore construction of air turbines, advanced control methodologies, and simulation of air energy affecting overall grid performance are making a case for air energy.