Site selection for offshore wind farms along the Indian coast

Abstract

<span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:" times="" new="" roman";="" mso-fareast-font-family:"times="" roman";mso-bidi-font-family:mangal;="" mso-ansi-language:en-in;mso-fareast-language:en-in;mso-bidi-language:hi"="">This study deals with the location of the potential sites for offshore wind farms and also deals with the feasibility of installing offshore wind farms through scientific examination along the coast of India. Offshore wind energy is almost unexplored along the Indian coast. Potential and feasible regions need to be found and studied in detail. In this regard, few of the essential primary parameters such as bathymetry, wind velocity, proximity to the coast, ports, harbours, marine protected areas and marine sanctuaries were considered. Suitable sites for offshore wind farms were demarcated in a GIS environment. Weekly climatology (1999-2009) of wind speed was used to explore the seasonal wind potential. GIS analysis has brought out potential wind farms regions of 32,000 km² in north east Arabian Sea (Off Mumbai and Off Ratnagiri) where bathymetry is in the range of 20 m to 75 m. Wind velocity ranges between 1.9 m/s to 10.2 m/s in these regions. The second potential site has been identified at off Mangalore with 6490 km². The third prospective site is at Off Hooghly estuary.</span>