Offshore Wind Energy in India – Suzlon,Tata Power look to Exploit this fast growing Green Energy Resource

Offshore Wind Energy has seen a huge spurt in growth in 2010 as compared to 2009 with the world’s largest offshore wind installation coming online off the coast of Britain.United Kingdom,Germany,South Korea and China have all got ambitious plans to increase offshore wind capacity.Note unlike onshore wind technology,offshore wind technology is still a new technology.The costs of offshore wind are more than double for normal wind turbine and present numerous challenges in reliability,transmission etc.The Asian and European countries are also looking to give their domestic companies a headstart in this Green Technology.South Korean Shipbuilders are getting into the Wind Turbine business for the first time as they try to offset the decline in the shipbuilding sector.Northrop Gruman has tied up with Spanish Wind Turbine Producer Gamesa for Offshore Wind in the USA.The US Administration recently passed a law to expedite clearance for Offshore Wind Farms to promote the growth of Offshore Wind in the US.

REpower wins turbine order for Belgian offshore wind farm

REpower Systems has won a contract from Belgian project development company C-Power to supply 48 turbines of the 6M type for the Thornton Bank offshore wind farm.The wind farm is located around 28km off the Belgian coast in waters between 12m and 27m deep.

The turbines have a total rated power generating capacity of approximately 295MW and are envisaged for the second and third phases of the wind farmIn 2008, REpower delivered and installed six turbines of the REpower 5M type for the first extension stage of the Thornton Bank wind farm.

India has got only 45 GW of potential Wind Energy Capacity of which around 25% has already been exploited.Renewable Energy in India needs to grow to around  70 GW at least in the next 10 years which means that Offshore Wind will also  have to play a part.India’s Wind Technology Research Institutions are already getting into the act measuring the Wind Speeds at different locations.Tamil Nadu,Gujarat and Maharastra are supposed to have good potential for Wind Energy.Tata Power is looking to setup a Wind Energy Farm off the coast of Gujarat.Suzlon which is the largest Indian Wind Energy Company is also seeking to generate revenues from this new sector.RePower,the German subsidiary of Suzlon has won a major contract to supply 6 MW Turbines to a Belgian Wind Farm in the North Sea which is fast becoming a Offshore Wind Energy Hub.

< Power players eye high seas for wind energy

Indian wind energy producers and related research organisations are eying the high-seas to harness wind power for electricity generation.Renewable energy majors such as Suzlon and Tata Power are exploring the potential of setting up offshore wind farms, a technology platform that is yet to emerge in India.

To back the intentions of these companies, research firms such as Hyderabad-based Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), under the Ministry of Earth Sciences, and Chennai-based Centre for Wind Energy Technology (C-WET) have taken up projects to study the feasibility of offshore wind mills and map potential zones off the Indian coast to set up such projects