For Union Minister for Non-Conventional Energy Sources Vilas Muttemwar, this could be the scientific backing he was looking for, while Sachin Tendulkar and Aishwarya Rai may regret not investing in Maharashtra’s wind farms, much closer home than Rajasthan.
According to wind power expert Somnath Baidya Roy, research associate with Duke University: ‘‘Wind turbines (windmills) don’t slice through clouds, and they don’t have the power to adversely influence the monsoon in Maharashtra, or anywhere, as they aren’t powerful enough’’.
This should put to rest speculation on the meteorological impact of wind farms in the State.
After all, Baidya knows. He has published a paper on the meteorological impact of wind farms in Journal of Geophysical Research (Oct 2004), based on a computer-simulated wind farm over the Great Plains in US.
Explaining why Maharashtra’s wind farms aren’t responsible for Satara’s poor rainfall, as claimed by angry local politicians led by the Shiv Sena, Roy told Pune Newsline, ‘‘We assumed (for the study) really large turbines — 100 metres tall with 50-metre-long rotor blades. Our findings showed it’s possible that the upward transport of cool, moist air — caused by turbulence from the rotor blades — might ‘increase’ cloudiness and rainfall over the windfarm.
‘‘If it starts to rain more over the windfarm, to balance things out, surrounding regions may see a reduction in rainfall. However, these impacts will depend upon factors like size of turbines and windfarm and especially the meteorological processes that drive rainfall.’’
Roy, whose paper was published while at Princeton, adds that since the major source of rainfall in Satara is the monsoon, ‘‘I don’t think the windfarms can affect the monsoon because it contains an enormous amount of energy. Rain-bearing clouds are formed several kilometers up in the sky. The turbines (in Maharashtra) are probably less than 100m tall.’’
True enough. Information available with the Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Sources cites the tallest wind electric generator (WEG) turbine in Maharashtra at 70 metres in Wankuswadi, while the countrywide high is 80 metres in Tamil Nadu.
As a note of caution, Roy — a former research assistant for the Department of Science and Technology (1993) and the Planning Commission (1994-95) — adds that during non-monsoon season, ‘‘windfarms can affect the spatial distribution and intensity of rainfall, but not during the monsoons.’’
Adding voice to Roy’s analysis is the India Meteorology Department, whose analysis of 100 years of rainfall in Satara district (1901-1997) shows a trend of decreasing rainfall in the district — well before windmills dotted the horizon.
Earlier this year, an outburst led by the Shiv Sena claimed wind farms were responsible for drought in Satara district, which led to protesters ransacking wind energy company Suzlon’s office at Chalkewadi. This controversy, claimed Muttemwar, dissuaded Aishwarya Rai and Sachin Tendulkar to invest in the State’s windfarm projects.
With around 1,000 WEGs producing 350 MW of electricity, Wankuswadi and Thoseghar lead generation in the State.