Chennai: In a way forward, Ministry of new and renewable energy (MNRE) has come out with the long-awaited draft national wind-solar hybrid policy that would help in the reduction of variability in renewable power generation besides making effective use of existing transmission and land infrastructure. Tamil Nadu with highest wind installed capacity would largely benefit from the wind-solar hybrid policy, say experts.
The draft policy released by MNRE aims to facilitate setting up of 10,000 MW of hybrid wind-solar power plants by 2022. It proposes hybridisation of existing wind power and solar photovoltaic (PV) as well as providing a guideline towards setting up of new hybrid wind-solar PV power plants.
The draft policy was announced to achieve the ambitious target of reaching 1.75 lakh MW of installed capacity from renewable energy sources, including one lakh MW from solar and 60,000 MW from wind by 2022. The country has already crossed 26,800 MW of wind and 7,600 MW of solar power installed capacity till May 2016. Tamil Nadu leads in wind installation capacity with 7,600 MW and solar capacity of 1142 MW.
“Solar and wind power being infirm in nature impose certain challenges on grid security and stability. Studies reveal that solar and wind are almost complementary to each other and hybridisation of two technologies would help in minimizing the variability apart from optimally utilising the infrastructure, including land and transmission system,” the policy said.
A Raja Sukumar, President, Indowind Energy Limited said generation from both the wind and solar power plants can complement each other and would help supply sustain power to the grid. “Wind generation picks up in the evening and peaks at night, while solar generation will be available during the daytime,” he told DC. The cost of setting up of wind-solar hybrid project would be much lesser compared to setting up separate wind and solar projects, as it would use common transmission infrastructure and land, he said.
He added that existing wind farms have scope for adding solar capacity and similarly there could be wind potential in the vicinity of existing solar plant. “Mainly, the solar plant should be located in such a way that wind mills shadow do not affect its generation,” he said.
Wind industry experts feel that the new draft policy when it transforms into a final policy would be a great boost to Tamil Nadu considering its leadership position in wind installed capacity.
“There are considerable numbers of wind farms which had acquired large tract of continuous land and installed wind mills with separating distance of 5Dx7D. As per the micrositing norm, the distance between two windmills in a single row should not be less than five times the diameter of the bigger rotor, and the distance between two rows should not be less than seven times the diameter of the rotor. Those large tracts of land can be used for installing solar plants even if they opt for repowering in future,” the expert said.
The draft policy proposes to provide fiscal and financial incentives for hybridisation of existing plants as well as setting up of new hybrid wind-solar PV plants. “Low cost financing for hybrid projects may be made available through IREDA and other financial institutions like multilateral banks,” the draft policy says, The MNRE has sought comments on the policy and the last date for sending comments is June 30.
