Wind Energy Potential Estimation in India

摘要

The most daunting problem of today's world is the global climate change, which is predominantly due to the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. Major contribution of GHG is by the burning of fossil fuels such as coal and oil. Apart from being the major contributors to GHG emissions, fossil fuels are exhaustible resources. Increasing negative effects of fossil fuel combustion on the environment in addition to limited stock have forced many countries to explore and change to environmentally friendly alternatives that are renewable to sustain the increasing energy demand. Changing to renewable sources and implementation of effective conservation measures would ensure sustainability. Of the three Kyoto agendas,' Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is widely accepted. Harnessing the inexhaustible, renewable and naturally available sources of energy like solar, wind, ocean, geothermal, etc would help the world overcome the existing energy crisis. . Currently, wind energy is one of the fastest developing renewable energy source technologies across the globe. It is high time to assess the wind energy potential of the countries to supplement the growing energy needs. This paper presents the results of the analysis of wind speed data for one calendar year (2009) at 15 important stations in India and the wind energy potential of each site is also presented. The sites where wind energy can be profitably harnessed and the months in which maximum energy can be obtained are briefly discussed.