Govt lays groundwork for wind power plants in four districts

To study the potential of harnessing wind power, four wind monitoring stations (WMS) will be set up in in Pilibhit, Sitapur, Shahjahanpur and Lakhimpur districts of Uttar Pradesh by the Centre for Wind Energy Technology (C-WET).

After a year of analysis by C-WET, power plants based on wind energy will be developed in these areas on public-private partnership (PPP) model.

This is the first time efforts are being made to tap wind power energy in northern India. Some WMS are functioning in Rajasthan but there is none north of it.

The project is being handled by the UP New and Renewable Energy Agency (UPNEDA) under the Department of Additional Sources of Energy of the state government.

"The study work is complete and now the WMS will be set up in these places. For a year, data on wind power, relative humidity, solar power, etc. will be collected. After that the process of setting up wind-based power plants will be initiated in these places," Ram Kumar, nodal officer of UPNEDA, said.

He said that a study had been going for tapping wind power in the state since 2005. A total of 11 districts, including some in the Bundelkhand region, Sonbhadra and Mirzapur were shortlisted. However, all of them were turned down by C-WET, which is an autonomous research and development institution under the Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE).

"Commercial production of power by exploiting wind power was not feasible in these districts and hence they were rejected," Ram Kumar said.

Later, in another study by C-WET on various wind indicators, the region of the Sharda-Ghaghra basin on the Indo-Nepal border was found to be appropriate for exploiting wind power. Four districts —- Pilibhit, Sitapur, Shahjahanpur and Lakhimpur —— were shortlisted. Wind monitoring stations with the support of MNRE will come up in these districts. For one year, these stations will be under the supervision of C-WET which will collect and analyse the data.

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