Wind Energy

The first Himalayan wind energy project

Uttarakhand’s Tehri district is all set to become the first Himalayan site, where the state government has given its nod to set up a wind farm on a hill top, in Bachhelikhal.

A notification to this effect has already been issued for producing 2.4 megawatt of wind power, officials on Wednesday said. An investment of Rs 12.5 crore is proposed in the wind energy project, the detail project report (DPR) for which was prepared last year by Darashaw, a Mumbai-based consultancy firm.

A decade ago, the Chennai-based Centre for Wind Energy Technology (CWET) had carried out the ground work and other surveys regarding the potential of wind power in Bachhelikhal area.

“We will be setting up three wind turbines with a capacityof 800 kW each at Bachhelikhal to produce 2.4 MW of wind energy,” said the official.

For the final approval, the state-owned Uttarakhand Renewable Energy Development Agency (UREDA) has sent the DPR to the ministry of new and renewable energy for getting subsidy. The UREDA is expecting a heavy subsidy or grants to the tune of Rs 5.25 crore in the project.

Meanwhile, UREDA is also planning to install wind mapping equipments in the state in order to know the potential of the wind energy in the hill state. For this purpose, UREDA has initiated talks with CWET to install these equipment.

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