Wind energy generation in TN has picked up pace and is consistently over the 100 million unit mark, taking care of nearly one-third of the total electricity requirement.
The wind season had an early start in June, but the flow later dropped. It resumed in July and with wind blasting through the passes from Aralvoimozhi-Pollachi to Sengottai and Aandipatti, windmills have been generating electricity to the full potential.
K Venkatachalam, chief advisor to TN Spinning Mills Association, says wind energy generators are happy with the way Tangedco has been evacuating power, but adds it is not 100%. “Tangedco still backs down the wind generation in a scattered manner claiming it has to maintain the grid frequency. If the entire wind energy generated is evacuated, it would have already touched 120 MU.”
In 2022, the 120.25 million units (MU) of wind energy absorbed into the grid on July 9 is considered the all-time record in Tangedco’s record. Venkatachalam says a record could happen this year too as better wind speed is forecast. “In the next week, wind generation might drop as per the forecast, but it will resume in the first week of August,” he says. TN has a total installed wind capacity of 10,067.20 MW, 24% of the total wind power capacity in the country.
Tangedco, which is regularly updated of the forecast by wind energy generators to keep it prepared to absorb as much as possible, refutes allegations of backing down and cites network issues for not being able to absorb all the energy generated. The wind pattern has been erratic over the past week due to various climatic conditions and solar power generation too came down on Monday, said one official. “We still evacuate all the wind energy generated despite risks of over and under-drawal from the central grid.”
