Wind power to be reserved for the generating states

The Ministry of Power (MoP) has decided that the power from wind projects of Central Power Sector Undertakings (CPSU) would be allocated only to the states in which the generating units are set-up. It has reasoned that the transmission of wind power to other states would involve open access from the local distribution licencee, the state transmission utility as well as the central transmission utility. This means that, in effect, the transmission charges and losses for all these intervening systems will have to be borne by the beneficiary state. With the capacity utilization of these wind projects hovering in the range of 20-25%, the per unit open access charges to the other states would work out to be unreasonably high. Also, given the inherently unpredictable behavior of wind power generation, scheduling of such power to other states would create more problems than it would solve.Further, these wind power projects are developed on must-run condition which means that the entire power generated has to be paid for, by the state. With the transmission system of Powergrid generally at a high level of 400 kV, connection of the small wind farms to it poses serious practical problems. Consequently, they are embedded within the transmission system of the local distribution company through which the evacuation of power is also done.