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Assessment of wind energy potential over India using high-resolution global reanalysis data

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Abstract

An assessment of wind energy potential based on wind speed data over the Indian subcontinent has been made using high spatio-temporal resolution global reanalysis for the period from 1979 to 2018. Regions of high wind speed exceeding 4.5 m/s are identified over West Rajasthan, West Gujarat, Saurashtra and Kutch, Central Maharashtra, Interior Karnataka, and Rayalaseema. Threshold wind speeds are noted to occur during the daytime, and during the summer months from May through September. Wind speeds and the spatial extent of threshold winds increase rapidly with height below 40 m and then gradually up to 100 m. The wind power density is highest between 50 and 80 m, with the potential highest over Gujarat, Kutch, and Interior Karnataka and moderate over Saurashtra and Rayalaseema. This study also notifies that offshore wind potential is higher than over land, and most of the western parts of India are congenial for low wind farming. The present study clearly delineates wind speed distributions and wind power productivity regions over the entire Indian subcontinent. The results would provide authentic wind speed and wind power potential information that would be useful for the industries, government agencies, and industries concerning wind harness over India.

Research Highlights

  1. 1.

    Wind power potential is assessed over the Indian subcontinent.

  2. 2.

    Spatial regions of wind speeds at different thresholds were identified.

  3. 3.

    Durations of wind speed hours per day for different thresholds were estimated.

  4. 4.

    Wind power potential at different heights was evaluated.

  5. 5.

    Favourable regions for wind farming over the Indian subcontinent were presented.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge free access to ERA data from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), UK; AWS data from MOSDAC, Government of India; wind observations data at the turbine level from National Institute of Wind Energy, India. This research is supported by the Early Career Research Award, Science and Engineering Research Board, Government of India through financial support under grant No. ECR/2016/001295.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Atmospheric Science, Koneru Lakshmaiah Education Foundation, Green Fields, Vaddeswaram, Andhra Pradesh, 522 502, India

    China Satyanarayana Gubbala

  2. Department of Meteorology and Oceanography, Andhra University, Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, 530 003, India

    Venkata Bhaskar Rao Dodla

  3. National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting, Ministry of Earth Sciences, A-50, Sector-62, Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India

    Srinivas Desamsetti

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  1. China Satyanarayana Gubbala
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Contributions

G Ch Satyanarayana: Conceptualization, problem envision, methodology adoption, computation, visualization, data curation, validation, draft preparation, and writing; D V Bhaskar Rao: Intellectual contribution, original draft preparation, review and editing, and D Srinivas: Analysis and visualization, draft preparation, review and editing.

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Correspondence to China Satyanarayana Gubbala.

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Communicated by Kavirajan Rajendran

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Satyanarayana Gubbala, C., Dodla, V.B.R. & Desamsetti, S. Assessment of wind energy potential over India using high-resolution global reanalysis data. J Earth Syst Sci 130, 64 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-021-01557-7

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