A new study by NIOT analysed nearly 3,100km of Indian coastline across four of India's southernmost states. It identified two potential sites off Rameshwaram and Kanyakumari on the Tamil Nadu coast.
The study relied on wind resource data from numerical wind atlas map models developed by the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) and offshore wind potential maps produced by the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) based on daily wind data taken from a Nasa satellite.
The data was validated through measurements taken from five moored buoys across the areas.
The findings identified Rameshwaram and Kanyakumari as two areas with good offshore potential.
Kanyakumari, on the southernmost tip of the Indian peninsula, fared better in terms of siting with adequate wind resource, cost economics and limited risks of cyclones that are more common further north.
The study also concluded a optimum turbine size of 3.4MW for the two locations and suggested a project size involving 50 turbines at an average distance to shore of 5km, with an estimated investment of INR 34.5 billion ($531 million).
At the estimated investment, calculations suggested an internal rate of return (IRR) of about 14% and a cost per unit of about INR 10.8/kWh ($0.168/kWh) and INR 9.6/kWh ($0.15/kWh) for Rameshwaram and Kanyakumari, respectively.
NIOT is also managing the installation of an offshore lidar for measuring wind resource off the coast of Gujarat in what is expected to be India's first offshore wind power project under the European Union-funded Fowind project.
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