The Indian wind industry grew from a purely nascent state to the third largest annual market in the

world, contributing nearly 8.2 per cent of India's power generating capacity. India has soared to a total installed capacity of 14.1 GW, which translates into a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) put in full for first mention of 26 per cent. Another statistic that makes for equally impressive reading: the annual market size at the beginning of the decade was 200 to300 MW; that number has jumped to 2351 MW in FY 2011. However, a growth rate in excess of 8 per cent or near eight per cent over the last decade warrants a commensurate rise in demand for electricity, which is likely to grow at 5-6 per cent over the next decade. Despite 68 GW of total power generating capacity being added over the last 10 years, peak demand deficit continues to remain worryingly high, at nearly 12-13 per cent. Those of us living in urban areas are aware of this problem, of course, especially during India's long and hot summer. Rural India paints a more desolate and desperate picture when it comes to electricity supply: 35 per cent of India's population does not have regular access to electricity. This implies nearly 60,000 villages cannot expect any improvements in their standard of living any time soon. That India has tremendous latent demand is therefore extremely clear. Wind has played its part in overcoming this challenge. Of the total capacity additions of 49 GW in electricity in the last five years, wind alone was responsible for nearly 18 per cent (8.8 GW) and had the highest share, barring only coal. About 80 per cent of India's oil needs are fulfilled by imports. And while India is undoubtedly a coal rich nation, 12-15 per cent of India's electricity is generated by coal that is imported from other nations. There are two ways in which wind provides energy security. First, wind has helped the nation reduce its dependency on expensive and polluting diesel-based power generating capacity. The second, and actually more important advantage conferred by wind, is that, thus far wind has saved India over 54 million tons of coal imports, or upwards of 4.8 billion USD over the last 10 years. Although growth is the top most priority, given the current urbanization rate of 30 per cent, India's Governments have understood the nuances of climate change, and the need for acting as a responsible nation. This is especially important, as well as timely, because India already has become the third largest emitter, with rapidly growing per capita Green House Gasses (GHG) In full pl emissions. More to the point, a recent report of the Ministry of Environment and Forests has rightly pointed out that no large country in the world is as vulnerable, on so many dimensions, to climate change as India. With over 7,000 kilometers of coastline threatened by sea level rise, and rapidly melting glaciers in the erstwhile pristine Himalayas, India's biodiversity and ecology is under a very serious threat. Wind installations in India have resulted in reducing CO2 emissions cumulatively by as much as 91 million tons. Last year alone (FY '11) the wind industry abated emissions to the tune of 22.8 million tons. Wind is considered to the least emitter of Green House Gasses (GHGs), even in comparison to other renewable, when it comes to manufacturing processes. When contrasted with wildly fluctuating prices of fossil fuels, wind becomes the fuel of choice with a stable pricing visibility of over 20 years. The cost of generating a kilowatt-hour of energy from wind has gone down over the years. This is because technology is bringing costs down sharply, and also because of larger MW machines being installed. The feed-in tariff for wind per unit of Kilowatt-hour (KWh) among major wind states ranges from Rs 3.4 to Rs 5.3, whereas the commercial and industrial tariff prevailing in these states are substantially higher, going up by multiples of 1.3 to 1.7. Green Shipping or Sustainable Shipping World shipping is a major source of airborne pollution and the movement of seaborne trade across the world requires vast amounts of bunker oil and other fossil fuels to be consumed by ships of all sizes. But as more focus is placed on reducing CO2 emissions and living in a more sustainable way, it is clear that changes will have to be made to the propulsion and power systems on-board modern vessels.

Wind power and solar energy are already popular sources of clean energy on land and we are working on a project to develop a system that will allow the ships of the future to be powered in a greener and more eco-friendly way using these limitless sources of energy.

HIGH POINTS OF WIND ENERGY

As wind energy comes under non-conventional energy it gets a tax break of 80 per cent as depreciation during the first year. All the other investments over Rs 1 lakh are taxed by the government. Banks provide 70 per cent of the project cost as loans at 9 per cent interest for installation of wind energy. The minimum cost of installation works out to Rs 1 crore for a 250 kw wind turbine. Thus, an individual will have to bring in Rs 30-35 lakh upfront, while the balance can be funded through bank loans. The energy produced can be sold to state electricity boards. In the first year of operations, almost half the amount that individuals invest close to Rs 14 lakh can be earned as revenues. The proceeds can be used to pay off part of the loan as well. Cost of operation, maintenance and insurance works out to Rs 40,000-50,000 a year. Wind turbine manufacturers give a one-year warranty on an installed turbine. Wind energy is considered to be one of most environmental friendly way of producing energy compared with conventional energy.

Sustainability is defined as meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Electricity demand has continuously outstripped production, and a peak energy shortage of around 12.7% prevailed in 2009-10. To meet this shortfall as well as the National Electricity policy target of Electricity for All by 2012, the cleanest options available to India are renewable Energy Technologies (rETs). According to the Ministry of New and renewable Energy (MNrE), today the share of renewable based capacity is 10.9% (excluding large hydro) of the total installed capacity of 170 GW in the country, up from 2% at the start of the 10th plan period (2002-2007). This includes 13,065.78 MW of wind, 2,939 MW of small hydro power, 1,562 MW of (biogases based) cogeneration, 997 MW of biomass, 73.46 MW of waste to power and 17.80 MW of solar pV for grid connected renewable at the end of 2010. India is a signatory to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and has as part of its obligations released a National Action plan on Climate Change (released in June 2008) by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh which has laid out his governments vision for a sustainable and green future for Indias economy. Small wind turbine with capacity ranging from 300 W to 25 kW It is possible to achieve much higher capacity factors by combining wind with a storage technology such as pumped hydro or compressed-air energy storage (CAES).