Based on the 120m high %CUF map shown here, NIWE has estimated the indicative wind potential at 120m agl through land suitability analysis. The study was performed with actual land availability estimation using National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) 56m resolution Land Use Land Cover (LULC) Data and with consideration of 5MW per sq.km. Land features which are not suitable for wind farming were excluded from the potential map with appropriate buffer/set-off. In addition, other developments such as roads, railways, protected areas, airports, etc., were excluded along with land area with elevation more than 1500m and slope more than 20 degree. The suitable land features were grouped into three categories- Wasteland, Cultivable Land and Forest Land and weightage of 80%, 30% and 5% was assigned respectively to these categories. The potential was estimated in Capacity Utilization Factor (CUF) scale and CUF more than 25% (at P50 level) was considered for potential estimation.
Based on the study, the installable wind potential of the country is estimated as 695 GW at 120m agl (above ground level) with 5D x 7D micro-siting configuration. Out of the total estimated 695 GW potential, 340 GW could be installed in wasteland, 347 GW in cultivable land and 8 GW in forest area. It is also noted that wind potential of 132 GW is possible in high potential areas with CUF greater than 32% and wind potential of about 57 GW is possible in the areas with CUF greater than 35%. While areas with high wind potential and high CUF can be developed into large wind farms, those with lower CUF could be considered for distributed generation and also for wind solar hybrid for better utilization of the RE resources.
* In these states, even though the wind potential is indicated as negligible based on the applied methodology and land suitability analysis, there can be scattered potential pockets available for wind farm development due to the localized wind flows and such pockets can only be identified through in-situ measurements.