Anantapur: The windy season, hitherto a bane for farmers in the drought-prone Anantapur district, is now seen as a lucrative business opportunity by the corporate sector.
The winds, which blow at around 45 km per hour from April to September, has attracted the attention of the corporate sector, with many business houses coming forward to set up windmills in the hillock and government lands. Five major companies, connected to wind energy production business, are investing nearly Rs 700 crore to set up windmills that will produce 127 MW of power at Kogira, Kambalapalli and Boksampalli in Roddam mandal in the district. Uravakonda, CK Palli, Vajrakarur, Ramagiri and Roddam mandals are also witnessing a rise in the number of windmills.
With its hilly topography that sees high velocity winds, Anantapur has immense potential for wind power generation compared to other districts in the state.
“The companies have come forward to establish windmills for power generation mainly due to high velocity of wind in the district. The wind-speed of about 45 km per hour that is almost constant from April to September is very useful to generate power, the Non-Conventional Energy Deve-lopment Corporation of AP (Nedcap)” officials said.
Soon after the Nedcap confirmed feasibility of the wind power generation business, the corporate sector got allotments from the state government and started investing.A Nedcap official told , “Presently, we don’t have even a single acre of government land feasible for setting up of windmills as the entire land, including hillock areas left.”