December 5, 2018
India

‘Fishers protest hit system to measure wind potential’

By Express News Service | 05th December 2018 | www.newindianexpress.com

CHENNAI : Installation of Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) system to measure wind potential for setting up offshore wind farms in the coast of Thoothukudi has been hit due to protest by fishermen, according to Anand Kumar, secretary, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.Speaking at the Green Power 2018 conference, organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here on Tuesday, he said that the State and Central governments were working to resolve the issue by holding talks with fishermen.

This comes as National Institute of Wind Energy is planning to establish a platform for assessing the offshore wind by LiDAR measurement near Tuticorin. Work on Offshore Geotechnical investigation near Thoothukudi has begun.

The objective of the investigation will be to ascertain the nature and property of soil available at the proposed site at recommended depths of upto 30m in seabed (10m in the case of rock) for design of LiDAR and wind turbines.

The LIDAR system is usually designed to measure atmospheric characteristics, including wind speed and direction at several heights from ground level. This instrument emits a stream of photons that interact with a variety of particulates in the air, some of which are scattered back toward the LIDAR where the signal is analysed and wind data is reported based on the Doppler shift phenomenon. This technology uses the same basic principle that radar uses.

The most common scientific uses for LIDAR technology are in aerial surveying and bathymetry (water depth measurement) but it is now being extended to include wind resource assessment.Kumar said Tamil Nadu has 35GW to 40GW offshore wind potential. The country plans to achieve 175GW of renewable energy capacity by 2022 of which already 73GW have been installed. He said another 21.55 GW project is under installation. Another 25GW is under various stages of implementation. The remaining projects will soon reach the bidding stage, possibly by March 2020.

He said a survey is being carried out to find out land mass available for solar and wind projects and how much transmission is available. This would help develop confidence among investors. He said India is ranked fourth in wind power generation and fifth in solar power generation. Overall, India is ranked fifth in generation of renewable energy, he said.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2018/12/05/fishers-protest-hit-system-to-measure-wind-potential/