Challenges to diffusion of small wind turbines in India

Resorting to renewable sources of energy such as wind is inevitable in order to meet the huge energy needs of the future. Supplementing grid power demand by onsite power generation using small wind electric generators is a promising option at urban/semi-urban as well as rural windy areas. The scope for micro-generation using small wind electric systems in India is to the tune of 83,000 MW. In spite of a large potential, diffusion of small wind turbines as sources of onsite generation has been very limited. In contrast to large grid connected wind turbines, whose market as well as technology is matured, the market as well as technology of small wind electric generators is still in a nascent stage. This points out that there are several bottlenecks which have limited widespread utilization of this useful form of power generation. This paper investigates the technical challenges for diffusion of small wind technology in India. It is found that the lack of testing facilities for verifying power performance, unavailability of adequate wind resource data especially in urban areas, and absence of standards for performance estimation are the major reasons underlying overall lower confidence of investors in small wind technology.