India ranks 5th in world in wind power installed capacity

The quantum of projected capacity addition to thermal power production during 2005-06 is 3,565.92 MW, Power Minister P M Sayeed informed the Rajya Sabha today. He said in a written reply that there was likely to be some shortage of domestic coal and it would have to be made up through import. He said National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) and a few other State Electricity Boards (SEBs) would import about 9.5 million tonnes of additional coal during 2005-06.

Wind energy: Wind power projects aggregating 2,980 MW have been installed in the country so far, Non-Conventional Energy Sources Minister Vilas Muttemwar said in reply to a question. Muttemwar said a target for wind power capacity addition of 1500 MW has been fixed for the 10th Plan as compared to an achievement of about 730 MW during the 9th Plan. He said Central financial assistance has been provided to nine states -- Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal -- for setting up of wind farm demonstration projects.

Answering another question, he said Grid interactive Wind Power installed capacity has progressively increased from about 250 MW in 2002-03 to about 500 MW in 2004-05 (April- December, 2004) with an average annual growth rate of about 25 per cent. India ranks fifth in the world after Germany, USA, Spain and Denmark in wind power installed capacity, he added.