NEG Micon is currently setting up a 250 MW wind energy project in Surajbari/India

NEG Micon is setting up a 250 MW wind power project at a total investment of Rs 1125 crore over the next two years at Surajbari in Kutch district. "NEG has already invested Rs 30 crore and the first 50 MW will be commissioned by March 2005. NEG's model is to develop first and then sell the wind farms to corporates. The company has already sold 12 MW and talks are on further sales," said Ramesh Kymal, managing director of NEG Micon (India) Pvt Ltd, a 100 per cent subsidiary of the world's largest wind turbine manufacturer, NEG Micon AS of Denmark.

NEG has installed its largest and latest wind turbine which has the capacity to generate 1.65 MW of wind power at Surajbari. In spite of having the largest potential for generation of wind power, Gujarat has lagged behind Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra in setting up wind power projects. "Gujarat's known potential is estimated at 7000 MW, but only 200-250 MW have been installed so far. On the contrary, Tamil Nadu has an installed base of 1000 MW as against a much lower known potential of 4000 MW. Even Maharashtra has installed capacities of about 450 MW as against a potential of 3000 MW," said Kymal. Kymal said that the major reason for the low installed capacities in Gujarat is the fact that the state has failed to put in place a long-term policy. "It is true that during the 1990s a lot of companies in Gujarat pocketed the incentives offered under the previous state policy for setting up of wind power projects without setting up the required facilities. While the old policy for investments in wind farm has been discontinued, the current one is not very attractive," said Kymal.

As the wind's velocity in Gujarat is lower than that in TN, the per unit power generation cost in the former is higher. So, while TN is offering a tariff of Rs 2.7 per kilo-wat-hour (KWH), Gujarat would have to offer a rate of around Rs 3.5 per KWH to attract investments in wind farms. Kymal said that if the Gujarat government cannot offer this higher tariff rate then it could allow third party sale for wind power producers. He claimed that over a 20-years period wind power generation is cheaper than other sources of power. The company is targeting to nearly double its wind turbine production to 290 MW during current financial year as against 157 MW worth of sales achieved in FY04. NEG has a 30 per cent plus share of the wind turbines sold in India.