Chennai: A first-of-its-kind project to forecast wind power generation was launched in Tamil Nadu on Wednesday. This will enable better tapping of wind power and to avoid forcible backing down of wind mills resulting in losses to entrepreneurs.The National Institute of Wind Energy (NIWE), an autonomous research and development institution of the ministry of new and renewable energy has tied up with Spain-based Vortex to provide wind power forecasting and scheduling for wind farms connected to five substations at Kayathar and Udumalpet, said Indian Wind Power Association chairman Prof K. Kasthurirangaian.
He said forecasting and scheduling would be extended to all the 134 wind pooling substations and 7420 mw wind mills connected to it. The wind forecasting project was mooted after losses suffered by windmill owners following backing down of wind power by the grid managers due to fluctuation and unpredictable nature of wind, Prof Kasthurirangaian said, adding that in 2013 and 2014, wind generators lost over two to three billion units of electricity a year due to backing down.
“Not only wind mill owners face loss, the Tangedco was forced to purchase power at high cost leading to its increased debt burden,” he said. The NIWE will be able to provide 15 minutes forecast up to 10 days ahead. The bulletins can be revised every three hours to provide much accurate prediction. The grid manager in the state load dispatch centre would make use of the prediction along with real time data on wind power generation at substation level to schedule evacuation of power.
“The difficulty in absorbing wind energy will be addressed with the launch of forecasting and scheduling facility,” said Tangedco (generation) director S. Devarajan. Launching the forecasting facility at NIWE here, Varsha Joshi, joint secretary, MNRE, said forecasting was the way forward for wind energy industry. “This has to be replicated in other states as well,” she said, appreciating grid managers of Tangedco for handling over 7000 mw of wind mills with no forecasting resources on hand.
