India - Suzlon set to study feasibility of wind power generation along Gulf of Cambay

Moving ahead with its plan to incorporate wind energy in place of tidal power, the Kalpasar project is set to rope in home-grown wind major Suzlon Energy. The company will be entrusted with the task of coming out with a feasibility report on the generation of power using wind along the Gulf of Cambay. This follows a decision by the Experts Advisory Group – a high-level committee on the project – scrapping the tidal power component in April this year.

Suzlon Energy will be asked to set up monitoring high masts to gauge wind direction, speed and other conditions to see if a capacity of 3,000 Mega Watts (MW) is created in the Gulf of Cambay. Sources in the Kalpasar department informed that a memorandum of understanding to this effect will be signed soon.

The project envisages creating a sweet water lake in the Gulf of Cambay by damming the gulf and store waters of seven rivers, including Sabarmati, Narmada, Mahi, and Dhadhar.

The National Environment Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) is also carrying out an independent study on how to control the quality of water in the lake that would be created under the project.

Officials inform that once all feasibility and commercial viability reports are completed and permissions put in place, the project would take between six and eight years to be upstream.

The group headed by the Chief Minister's Advisor on Water issues, Babubhai Navlawala, had found the tidal power produced with available technologies as commercially unviable at over Rs 12 per unit.

The decision was, however, seen as a blessing in disguise, as it cut the cost of the much delayed project by about half from over Rs 50,000 crore to Rs 25,000 crore – on account of saving on capital costs of the tidal power generation equipment.