Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
program” which seeks to address India-specifi c
challenges in promoting solar energy.
The amount of solar energy produced in India
is less than 1 % of the total energy demand.
Government-funded solar energy in India only
accounted for approximately 6.4 MW/year of
power as of 2005. However, India is ranked num-
ber one in terms of solar energy production per
watt installed, with an insolation of 1,700-1,900
kilowatt hours per kilowatt peak. The grid-
interactive solar power as of December 31, 2012
was merely 1,176 MW, and India expects to install
an additional 10,000 MW by 2017 (MNRE
2013
).
90,000 MW of new generation capacity is
required in the next 7 years. The development of
wind power in India began in the 1990s and has
signifi cantly increased in the last few years.
The total potential for wind power in India
was fi rst estimated by the Centre for Wind Energy
Technology (C-WET) at around 45 GW and was
recently increased to 48.5 GW. This was adopted
by the government as the offi cial estimate. The
C-WET study was based on a comprehensive
wind mapping exercise initiated by MNRE,
which established a country-wide network of
1,050 wind monitoring and wind mapping sta-
tions in 25 Indian states. The gross wind power
potential is estimated at around 48,561 MW in
the country, a capacity of 18,420 MW up to
December 31, 2012 has so far been added through
wind, which places India in the fi fth position
globally (MNRE
2013
).
Table
3
shows the cumulative installed capac-
ity of the top 10 countries (The World Wind
Energy Association
2012
). The worldwide wind
capacity reached 254,000 MW by the end of June
2012, out of which 16,546 MW were added in the
fi rst 6 months of 2012. This increase represents
10 % less than in the fi rst half of 2011 when
18,405 MW were added. Still the fi ve leading
countries, China, USA, Germany, Spain, and
India, represent together a total share of 74 % of
the global wind capacity.
2.2
Wind Energy
Wind is a form of renewable energy. It is abun-
dant, low cost, and widely distributed; it scales up
easily and can be developed quickly. Winds are
generated by complex mechanisms involving the
rotation of the earth, heat energy from the sun,
the cooling effects of the oceans and polar ice
caps, temperature gradients between land and
sea, and the physical effects of mountains and
other obstacles. This wind fl ow, or motion energy,
when “harvested” by modern wind turbines, can
be used to generate electricity. Wind energy is a
clean, eco-friendly, renewable resource and is
nonpolluting to generate electricity. The use of
electricity has grown since it can be used in a
variety of applications; it can be easily transmit-
ted as well as. Hence, the use of wind for generat-
ing electricity is rising. Wind turbines convert the
kinetic energy in the wind into mechanical power.
This mechanical power can be used for specifi c
tasks (such as grinding grain or pumping water),
or a generator can convert this mechanical power
into electricity to power homes, businesses,
schools, and the like.
India is blessed with plenty of alternate energy
sources such as solar, wind, hydro, and biomass.
India occupies the fi fth position in the world after
China, USA, Germany, and Spain in generation
of wind power. Although we have seen an impres-
sive increase in installed capacity addition, from
barely about 1,350 MW at the time of indepen-
dence (1947) to about 160,000 MW today, over
2.3
Biomass
Biomass has been a key player in energy gen-
eration even in the past. Biomass, defi ned as all
land- and water-based vegetation as well as
organic wastes, fulfi lled almost all of human
kind's energy needs prior to the industrial rev-
olution. In present day scenario, once again its
utilization for generation of energy has gained
momentum because of the limited availability
of conventional energy resources as well as
environmental concern due to greenhouse gas
emissions.
In recent years, the interest in using biomass
as an energy source has increased, and it repre-
sents approximately 14 % of the world's fi nal
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