Economic feasibility study to design a large offshore wind farm near coastal region of Rameshvaram, India

The objective of this study was to plan a 100 MW offshore wind farm near coastal area of Rameshvaram, Tamil Nadu. This was done with a view to investigate the possibility of increasing the share of wind power in the National power market so as to meet the rapidly increasing electricity demands of the country. Using Global wind atlas it was found that this site at 50 m height has the available wind power density of 305 W/m² and is therefore fairly suitable for the development of an offshore wind farm. Based on the five year hourly mean wind speed data, a prefeasibility study was conducted to investigate the prospects of constructing a wind farm in that capacity. The study takes into account wind measurements as well as financial analysis including preventive maintenance cost analysis and also carbon emission analysis. Results of this preliminary study show that it is feasible to develop 101.5 MW wind farm by using RE power 5M commercial offshore wind turbine. Further, 20 wind turbines of 5075 kW capacity would provide the unit price of Rs. 3.2 per kWh and thus would be reasonably profitable with a payback period of 7 years.