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Diamond city’s wind power ambition hinges on Indian monsoon

Surat Municipal Corporation is India’s first civic body to set an ambitious target to meet its entire power demand to run water supply network over 326 square kilometre for 5.9 million people through wind energy by 2020.

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Ratnajyoti Dutta

Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) is praying to the ‘Monsoon God’ for a gusty season in 2016 to source three- fifths of power demand to run the Diamond city’s drinking water supply network through the renewable source.

SMC is India’s first civic body to set an ambitious target to meet its entire power demand to run water supply network over 326 square kilometre for 5.9 million people through wind energy by 2020.

To ensure, wind turbines rotate at a faster rate to generate high energy, the peak wind season (June to August) of the Indian monsoon needs to have strong gusting.ratnajyoti

 

SMC has set a target to meet 60 percent of power cost through wind energy in 2016/17, sources at the civic body said. SMC has been using the renewable power, generated by wind machines for its captive use since 2010.

Currently, the civic body uses 17.7 mega watt of wind power, meeting 40 percent of its energy demand to run its huge supply network in the western coastal city which is a textile industry hub.

The usage of wind power to run the civic body’s drinking water supply network would sharply reduce carbon footprints by around 40,000 tonnes a year after 2017, while the wind power compliant water supply network after 2020 would cut carbon emission by 79,000 tonnes annually for the metropolis.

“SMC needs only the monsoon God’s gusting to run turbines speedily at captive plants near Jamnagar and Porabandar,” said one of the sources. SMC has installed wind machines at three locations, near the Arabian Sea.

The energy generated from wind is being put into the state’s power grid distribution system for credit to SMC to run its water supply network.

For the next fiscal from April, SMC plans to use another 12.6 mega watt, making total of 30.3 mega watt of wind energy for the drinking water network and also for sewerage, sources said.

Gujarat is the pioneering province in India, driving renewable initiatives since the days when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was at the helm of affairs in the state for about 15 years.

SMC experience has been replicated by the civic body of capital city Ahmadabad that also started relying on wind power generation to meet energy needs to run its water supply network.

It will be privilege to share our experience in renewable energy with any civic counterpart in the country,” said Milind Torawane, Commissioner of SMC.

Hope other civic bodies listen to Torawane’s open invitation to take cue from SMC and help Modi-led government to fulfil commitment pledged at recently conclude climate summit in Paris where 195 countries arrived at a deal to limit rise in global temperatures to less than two degree Celsius.

India aims to generate 60 gigawatts power from wind by 2022.

Ratnajoyti Dutta is a former journalist with Reuters and currently the Editor-In-Chief of monthly industry e-news paper Construction Standard

Credit: Construction Standard

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