Blown away
Gujarat has wind farms with a total installed capacity of 170 mw, mostly in the private sector, along the coast of Saurashtra and Kutch. It has the second highest number of wind energy generators (WEGs) in the country, though the installation count is one-fourth of that in Tamil Nadu.
Tax waivers provided by the Gujarat government have made it very lucrative to invest in the wind energy sector. Besides serving as a tax shield, the tax structure made it easy to recover the cost of setting up a windmill. Once the cost was recovered, the investor lost interest in the windmill and it became victim of neglect. Most investors in the state are small-time players, who do not look beyond the incentives offered. It is no wonder that Gujarat has the worst track record in utilising wind energy.
The state's coast is prone to cyclones. And WEGs installed in Gujarat are not built to withstand the force of cyclones. This was evident when a cyclone hit the Kandla coast on June 7, 1998. On that fateful day, not only did the tidal waves leave close to 3,000 people dead, it also damaged 130 windmills out of the total 315 that had been producing 37 mw of power. According to C R Kamalanathan, former secretary, ministry of non- conventional energy, the destruction was worth more than Rs 160 crore.
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