Replacing Old Windmills

The Repowering Policy for Wind Power Projects will replace older, smaller wind turbines with higher-capacity ones. Here's what needs to be fixed first.

- P.B. JAYAKUMAR

THOSE WHO TRAVEL by the National Highway from Tamil Nadu's Tirunelveli town to Kanyakumari see something unusual. After a while, lush green paddy fields and coconut trees make way for thousands of windmills on the horizon for kilometres on end starting from Valliyoor, a number of them with mesmerising floriculture fields. Most of these were installed 20-30 years ago to tap strong winds from the Arabian Sea wafting through the mountain pass.

Developed in 1986 by Tamil Nadu Energy Development Agency (TEDA) on behalf of its corporate clients from across the country, the Muppandal village in Kanyakumari district is known for being India's largest operational onshore wind farm. Almost one-fourth of the country's wind energy capacity is located in these areas spread across Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi, and Kanyakumari.

There's a plan to replace these old windmills with larger ones with two-three times their current generation capacity. In mid-October, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy unveiled the draft 'National Repowering Policy for Wind Power Projects - 2022', based on feedback from a similar draft policy outlined in August 2016 to facilitate a framework for repowering old windmills.