Chennai: The Tamil Nadu government on Saturday said it was in a position to sell surplus wind power generated in the state and urged the Centre to allocate dedicated transmission capacity on a priority basis for its evacuation. In a letter to the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, the Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa said Tamil Nadu with an installed capacity of 7,600 MW of wind power contributes 27 per cent of the country’s total installed wind capacity.
During the current wind season, wind power to an extent of 4,400 MW is being utilised in the state based on the evacuation infrastructure. Even with the implementation of the intra-state evacuation infrastructure, the entire wind energy generated in the State cannot be fully consumed within Tamil Nadu, particularly in this peak wind season. Tamil Nadu is in a position to sell about 1000 MW of wind power to other States, which require this power to meet their Renewable Purchase Obligation (RPO).
Tamil Nadu has already met its RPO. Many states who are unable to meet the RPO, are now approaching Tamil Nadu for assistance. “To facilitate the sale of surplus wind power to the States in need of renewable energy, it is important that a dedicated inter-state Green Energy Corridor is established so that the surplus wind energy from Tamil Nadu can be successfully evacuated and sold to other states. I understand that the Power Grid Corporation already proposes to establish such an inter-State Green Energy Corridor. May I, therefore, request you to instruct the Ministry of Power to speed up the process of establishing the inter-State Green Energy Corridor at the earliest to enable Tamil Nadu to transmit renewable power of 1000 MW to other States which are in need of such power,” the letter urged.
The letter also pointed out that the State has planned to add new renewable energy infrastructure under which a further 4,500 MW of wind power and 5000 MW of solar power plants will be in installed over the next five years. Wind energy is seasonal and generated at particular times of the year mainly from June to September in Tamil Nadu, the letter emphasised demanding action at the earliest by the Centre.
