India had lagged behind in unconventional and alternate energy sources for many years. The power generated by alternate Energy sources have not been economical and remain unpopular among the public.
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Oil accounts for about 30% of India's total energy consumption. The majority of India's roughly 5.4 billion barrels in oil reserves are located in the Bombay High, Upper Assam, Cambay, Krisha-Godavari, and Cauvery basins. The offshore Bombay High field is by far India's largest producing field, with production of 203,000 barrels per day (bbl/d) in 2001. India's average oil production level (total liquids) for 2002 was 759,000 bbl/d. India had net oil imports of over 1.2 million bbl/d in 2002. |
A novel experiment called Gobar gas has been used successfully in villages. The cow dung used as raw material was fermented in special designed pits, methane was collected and used for cooking, lightning, running engine to drive water pump for irrigation or a generator. The cow dung at the end of the process was used as fertilizer. This has been very successful experiment as the process is cheap to set up requires little maintenance and no additional cost to run, reduced pollution and overall economical.
Wind mills have been researched and experimented extensively, they are being used where ever the wind permits their usage. Wind mills are environmental friendly, not very expensive or complicated to fabricate, easy to maintain and cost next to nothing to use. The only disadvantage is they are dependent on wind which is seasonal and unpredictable. There is no control over when and with what force wind will flow. Due to this nature power generation from wind mill varies continuously, the generated power can be stored an storage battery and made available to fill the the gap on demand. Wind mill is also great for activity which are not time bound. Many wind mills connected to gather may give a better average performance.
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India ranks 5th in the world with a total wind power capacity if 1080MW out of which 1025Mwhaev been established in commercial projects. |
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In India the states of Tamilnadu and Gujarat lead in the field of wind energy. At the end of March 2000 India had 1080-MWs capacity wind farms, of which Tamilnadu contributed 770-MW capacity. Gujarat has 167MW followed by Andhra Pradesh, which has 88 MW installed wind farms.There are about a dozen wind pumps of various designs providing water for agriculture, afforestation, and domestic purposes, all scattered over the country. |
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The design of the Auroville multi-blade windmill has evolved from the practical experience gained in operating these mills over a period of 20 years or so. It has a high tripod tower and its double-action pump increases water output by about 60% compared to the conventional single-action pumps. |
Atomic power generation plants have been designed fabricated and used. Electricity generated is economical but waste material disposal is a problem. Any accident taking place could do more damage than what has been gained through out the life of that Atomic power plant.
Extensive research has been carried out in development of photovoltaic Cells. Initially the cost of Cells were prohibitive as a result they were used for special application only. With continued research the cost has come down considerably though they are still not affordable by common man. The efficiency of these cells is very low. Better and affordable cells may be available in near future.
Sun light is also being used by institutions like hotel and few individual to heat water for domestic use. The current design is not very efficient. Heating through sun light has bright future once the boiler designed to be more efficient and cost effective as India is blessed with plenty of sunlight.
Experiments have been carried out to generate electricity by using Bulls to go round in circle to rotate alternators and generate electricity.
Wind Resource Assessment - Nationwide wind resource assessment is being carried out by the Centre for Wind Energy Technology (CWET), Chennai. As many as 24 states and Union Territories are covered under this programme with about 900 wind monitoring and wind maping locations. Of these 204 locations spread over 13 states / Union Territories has recorded annual average wind power density over 150W / sqm. These locations and the respective wind data can be seen in link windy sites. Based on the data collected and resource studies carried out the regions that are experiencing good winds have been identified and can be seen in the figure below.
Wind Regime - The macro-scale atmospheric flow of wind
in tropical India is determined strongly by the strength of the monsoon
winds.The monsoon period in India can be categorized into two.
(i) South-West
monsoon.
(ii) North-East monsoon.
The South-West monsoon begins in the month of April and is formulated in the Indian ocean which later gradually moves in the North-East direction and first hits the state of Kerala by the second half of May. Wind gradually gains strength over the months and peaks during the month of July. During this period surface wind speeds exceeding 20-30 kmph are found over Western India, Southern Tamil Nadu, Saurashtra, Kutch regions and coastal Bengal. Strong upper winds (150m above ground) are observed in the forenoons over the interior Peninsula, Western Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Saurashtra during the peak monsoon period. The monsoon begins in the month of April and is formulated in the Indian ocean which later gradually moves in the North-East direction and first hits the state of Kerala by the second half of May. Wind later gains strength over the months and peaks during July.
From September the wind generally weakens over areas like
Saurashtra, Kutch and Southern Tamil Nadu experiencing winds of over 15 kmph.
This is the effect of large scale air-flow during South-West monsoon period.
During the winter months, the large scale air-flow reverses i.e, moves from the
Himalayan belts towards the Indian ocean which is called as the North-East
monsoon. Wind speeds over 10 kmph are experienced during this period in Orissa,
Saurashtra, Kutch and Southern Tamil Nadu. Strong upper winds (150m above
ground) are observed in the forenoons over the interior Peninsula, Western
Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Saurashtra during the peak monsoon period.
