CHENNAI: 35 lakh houses could be lit up with clean energy as Danish firm Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners has submitted a proposal for a 1 GW offshore wind farm in the Gulf of Mannar which can deliver power by early 2026.
The proposal was put forth before Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin by a Denmark delegation led by Minister for Climate, Energy and Utilities Dan Jorgensen on Wednesday. “These are preliminary discussions. It is up to the Union government to clear the proposal by coming out with an offshore wind policy,” said official sources. “The other issue under discussion is ‘Viability Gap’ funding. Denmark’s proposal has sought Rs 37 billion ($465 million) capital grant at the stage of construction,” official sources said.
According to the proposal document accessed by TNIE, the wind farm initially requires 80 wind turbines and foundations. It would require Rs 185 billion capital expenditure during 2023-2026. This expenditure would include a network of submarine cables interconnecting the turbines besides a network of offshore and onshore substations.
Once power is generated in 2026, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners plan to upscale it to 10 GW by 2029, facilitating the creation of an Offshore Wind Zone. This would require additional investment of Rs 300 billion. The project would also generate 10,600 jobs.
The Mannar Gulf Wind Park will leverage India’s local supply chains to deliver up to 60 per cent local content. This includes local supply of major offshore wind components such as foundations and wind turbine towers and blades. “We commit to facilitate the transfer of international offshore wind know-how to the local workforce and have identified specific collaboration initiatives between Danish and Indian Universities,” states the document.
India has set a target of 450 GW of renewable energy and has recognised the potential of offshore wind by setting a 30 GW target by 2030. Offshore wind financings in the first half of 2020 totalled $35 billion globally.
Danfoss’ new initiative
Chennai: In a bid to encourage use of low-Global Warming Potential (GWP) refrigerants, a Centre of Excellence for green refrigerants was launched at Danfoss Industries’ hi-tech facility in Chennai. Denmark Energy Minister Dan Jørgensen inaugurated the facility with Denmark Ambassador Freddy Svane and Danfoss’ India head Ravichandran Purushothaman,
Source: newindianexpress.com
