Wind Energy has proven to be economically viable and clean source today for generating grid quality electrical power. Wind Energy is not a very new concept in our Country. The Wind power programme in India was initiated towards the end of the Sixth Plan, in 1983-84. India now ranks fourth in the world with over 6000 MW of Wind Power Installed Capacity. The sector is growing at about 30% annual growth rate with huge demands for qualified man-power. India has about 10 manufacturers of large grid connected wind machines and a number of manufacturers for small wind machines, manufacturers of component and spares, service providers, investors in wind power sector, NGO’s, Government Research Institutes which are into manufacturing and technology development for wind power, Technical Institutes teaching and researching in Wind Power at all over India and a dedicated Centre for Research in Wind Energy Technology. The Ministry for New and Renewable Energy, Govt. of India and state level nodal agencies are Instrumental bodies that frame policies regarding various aspects of Wind Power. India has also started exporting Wind Machines in 1 to 2 MW range, and indigenous designs are also becoming available for 1 to 10 kW range.
Looking to such a large market and its needs for skilled manpower to design, operate and understand issues regarding wind machines, a three-day training course on Wind Energy Technology was conducted from April 16-18, 2007 at IIT-Bombay.
Course Objectives:
This course was designed for practicing engineers in wind industry, teachers, students, policy makers and scientists who are interested in or are exposed to Wind Energy Technology. The course provided an introduction to the skills and techniques required for analysis of Wind Machines and exposed the participants to various issues and the methods of selection, siting and operation of Wind Machines. Topics covered during the course are mentioned below:
- Overview of India’s Energy Scene
- Wind Machine Technologies : Introduction
- Statistical methods of wind analysis
- Wind Resources Assessment & Siting
- Basics of Wind Machine Aerodynamics
- Machine Design and load analysis aspects
- Wind Machine Controls
- Generators and other electrical power related aspects
- Issues related to grid connected machines
- Selection and Siting
- O and M issues of Large wind machines
- Small wind machines
- Hybrid Wind Energy Systems
- Economic Analysis
- Tutorials on wind energy calculations
Participants:
We had an enthusiastic group of 51 participants, which included 12 participants from different Wind Turbine Manufacturers (Suzlon, ITC-GE, Vestas, Marut Energy, etc.), 4 participants from user Industries (Excel Crop Care, Ramco Wind Farms, Rajplayam mills, etc.), 14 Lecturers/Professors from various Engineering Colleges (Sarvajanik College-Surat, Amaravati College, COEP- Pune, MANIT-Bhopal, VJTI & Somaiya College- Mumbai, North Maharashtra Univ, PSG-Coimbatore, etc.),2 students (from VJTI, Somaiya), Energy Development Agencies (MEDA, HAREDA, ANERT-Kerala), Govt Research Institutes (BHEL, NAL, etc.) ,Vendors (in the field of controls) and 10 students and one Professor from IIT- Bombay.
The Three Day Course:
The course started with a short and apt Inaugural session, chaired by Prof. In charge of CEP, Prof A.S. Moharir, organizer of the course and faculty member of Energy Systems Engineering Prof. Shireesh B Kedare, and Prof. Rangan Banerjee, Convener, Energy Systems Engineering. Prof. Moharir introduced the participants to the courses run under the Continuing Education Programme (CEP) of IIT-Bombay and declared the opening of the course. Prof. Rangan Banerjee then talked about our department and its activities and the role of wind power in the country in the country’s energy scenario.
After a short tea break, we kick started the second technical session on Introduction to Wind Machine Technologies by Prof. S.B.Kedare, which prepared the ground for the course and next we had the fortune to have The Executive Director, C-WET, Dr M.P. Ramesh , who gave us an interesting session on Resource Assessment of Wind Energy and Siting issues, which continued after lunch with Introduction to C-WET and Testing of Wind Machines. Prof. K. Sudhakar, Dept of aerospace Engineering gave a brilliant talk on Wind Machine Aerodynamics. Prof. Kedare took our knowledge base forward as he introduced us to characteristics, Operation and Load matching of Wind Machines. We then had a hands-on Tutorial session by Ms. Anindita Roy.
We continued with the same jest and spirit on the second and third day with S.B.Kedare illuminating us on the topics of Wind Analysis Wind Machine Loads and Small Machines. In connection to this Ms. Anindita showed her program on basic calculations of Wind Machines and estimation of Rotor Loads. Prof.B.G.Fernandes-Electrical Engineering Department, added to our Enthusiasm by introducing us to Electrical Machines for Wind Power. We had very interactive sessions by Prof. S.Suryanarayanan–Dept of Mechanical who dealt with Controls of Large Wind Machines. Vertical Axis Wind Machines are becoming challenging research Topics today. M.A.Kamoji-Research Scholar, ESE and Prof S.V.Prabhu –Dept of Mechanical Engineering presented their research efforts on Savonius machines. We had a thrilling session with Prof S.K. Sane, and other participants shared with us their experiences and endeavors in Wind Power.
We were surprised to see the enthusiasm of the participant when they after a tiring day long session wanted to visit ESE lab co-ordinated by Shri K.G.Kale-Staff member ESE. One of our Students Vijay also showed a wind machine made by him as a part of his academic project work. Prof. S.A. Khaparde- Electrical Engineering Department steered us to focus on Issues related to Grid Integration of Wind Generators on the opening session of the third day. Prof. Rangan Banerjee reminded us that successful implementation of any technology needs the economics of the system to go right. Today Technology in the Energy sector is moving towards Decentralized or Distributed Generation Systems, and hence Hybrid Energy systems are becoming more and more important. To emphasize this point we had Prof. S. Bandyopadhyay- Energy Systems Engineering to add to our knowledge base.
We also shared lots of Practical knowledge from Dr. Rajendra Kharul-Senior Fellow-World Institute of Sustainable Energy (WISE) who talked to us about Operation & Maintenance Issues. Last but not the least; we should not forget that we are living in an environment which is degrading due to uncontrolled human activities and industrialization. Prof Anand Rao-CTARA-IITB helped us understand Concepts of Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) which is becoming more and more important today. In the end Prof. Kedare beautifully summed up the whole session, communicating to the participants the direction of new technological developments in the Wind power sector, its research needs and need for technically trained manpower in this sector.
Feedback:
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Feedback for the course indicated that participants had gained a lot from the course on the technical content point of view, but also needed some more supplements on practical and on-field knowledge. The participants appreciated the coverage of all aspects of the wind technology in its multi-disciplinary flavour and its theory based technological interdependence. The course was also able to cover issues related to large as well as small machines having different niche in the market. |
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Contact Information
Prof. Shireesh B. Kedare,
Adjunct Associate Professor,
Energy Systems Engineering,
Indian Institute of Technology Bombay,
Powai, Mumbai –400076, India.
Fax: (+91-22) 2576 4890, 2572 6875
e-mail: sbkedare@iitb.ac.in
or
Ms. Anindita Roy, anindita@iitb.ac.in
Energy Systems Engineering, IIT-Bombay,
Powai, Mumbai 400076, INDIA