Speaking to reporters here on Monday, member of the Indian Wind Turbine Manufacturers Association, U B Reddy, said the wind energy sector was ready to produce more energy, but were hampered by inability to ensure grid connectivity.
“Areas like North Karnataka and Chitradurga have great potential. But the transfer of energy generated to the grid has been a problem. To address this, KPTCL has agreed to set up two new sub-stations in these places,” he said.
Evacuation of wind energy has been one of the deterrents to growth of this sector in Karnataka, where areas like North Karnataka have good potential for producing energy, but it is utilities like Bescom that require greater use of this energy.
The wind energy sector is now banking on manufacturing sectors setting up shop in North Karnataka so they can supply power directly to the industries.
At present, wind energy contributes seven per cent of the total energy consumed in the State. For the coming year alone, the wind energy sector intends to add 2010 MW to its capacity.
Conference in Chennai
The World Institute of Sustainable Energy (WISE) is planning to hold its biennial conference ‘Wind Power India 2011’ from April 7 to 9 in Chennai.
Director General of WISE, G M Pillai said wind energy would be a major technology in the next 10 years. “We hope to bring together all the stakeholders in this conference to solve all regulatory and policy issues,” he said.