As much as 16% of India's electricity needs could be supplied by wind power within the next 25 years, the country's president told a gathering of renewable energy experts Nov. 6. India produces 6,053 megawatts of wind power, a tiny chunk of the estimated 130,000 megawatts of electricity it needs, but its installed wind power grew by 47% in the last fiscal year, the Indian Wind Energy Association says.
"The present potential of wind energy in India has been worked out to be 45,000 megawatts," said President Abdul Kalam at the start of an annual conference being held this year in New Delhi. The president also told the energy experts, officials and environmentalists from more than 35 countries at the gathering -- organized by the World Wind Energy Association -- that India was Asia's biggest wind power market.
"The Asian region alone accounted for 19% new installations in 2005, experiencing a growth of over 46%. India can justifiably be proud of the fact that the strongest Asian market in 2005 was India."
Once installed, the costs of wind power are cheap, running at about 2.5 (.05 cents) to 3.5 rupees a unit, according to the Indian Wind Energy Association.
India is the fourth largest user of wind power in the world, after Germany, Spain and the United States.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2006
