Wind Energy in India - Essay Example

Wind Energy in India Natural gases have been the biggest, if not the only, source of energy for a majority of people in the world. As a result, humankind has relied on nonrenewable sources of energy to meet their energy requirement needs. However, overreliance on natural gases has seen the world witness the continued depletion of this essential commodity as the world’s natural energy resources diminish at an alarming rate. One reason that has seen this form of natural energy dwindle is its nonrenewable nature. In this regard, humankind cannot renew natural gases and reuse them once they consume these resources. In addition, humankind has overexploited natural gases for economic gains in order to develop important sectors of the economy. These two factors have contributed to the depletion and the diminishing nature of this natural form of energy. Consequently, these depleting resources have necessitated humankind’s search of other sources of energy that were long-term and renewable. One such source of energy is the energy tapped from the wind and the sun, also known as wind energy and solar energy respectively. In line with this, nations have realized that these two forms of energy are renewable, and their use enhances a safe environment. All nations, despite their economic empowerment, have realized the importance role of wind and solar energy in meeting their energy demands. India is one of the nations of the world that has identified the important role of wind in producing energy. As a result, the country has made substantial investments in order to ensure that it tapped energy from wind to enhance its chances of meeting its national energy needs. Hence, this expose elucidates on the aspects that have enabled the use of wind energy in India. In addition, the expose will investigate any existing benefits and detrimental effects resulting from the use of wind energy in India. Finally, it is important to investigate the potential use of wind energy in India and its effects on energy or pollution situation over the world due to the ability of other sources of energy to cause pollution and affect the energy reserves due to their continued use. India is one of the countries that have the highest population. In addition, the economy of the country has been growing at an astronomical rate. In effect, demand for energy to sustain this growth is high with the country looking for other sources of energy rather than relying on the conventional sources of energy (Invest India). In addition, the country realized the importance of ensuring energy security, reducing the intensity of the density of carbon resulting from the use of nonrenewable energy, and reducing the adverse effects of natural gases use in the environment. To achieve the objectives, India realized that nonrenewable source of energy, with wind energy being the principal source, was a crucial way of achieving energy security, reducing the levels of carbon resulting from the use of nonrenewable energy, and improving a clean environment from the use of wind energy, which is a clean form of energy (Sargsyan et al.). In a 2001 census by India’s Ministry of Power, only 496,365 villages out of 593,732 were supplied with electricity power, which put the per capita consumption of energy in the country at 639 kWh making it one of the lowest in the world (Sargasyan et al. 2). In effect, a big proportion of the country’s population cannot access the national power grid. One of the reasons leading to the failure to access the national power grid regards to the cost of power with most forms of natural energy being naturally expensive. Sargasyan et al. also noted that the country’s reliance on conventional forms of energy contributed to power shortages since these conventional sources were unreliable (2). Hence, the opportunity costs arising from diversifying to other sources of energy was high, which necessitated the need to identify other sources of energy, with wind energy being one of the main sources. The International Energy Agency (EAI) estimated an increment in the nominal price of coal, oil, and gas due to their price volatility nature and noted the possibility of these sources energy tripling in the two decades (qtd. in Sargasyan et al 4). In effect, India identified the importance of finding renewable sources of energy since their production is considered cheaper than the production of power from nonrenewable sources like wind energy. In addition, the country required to produce energy that was cheap in order to ensure that the resources saved can be invested in other important aspects of the economy. Based on the foregoing, the country introduced the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) in 2006 with an aim of ensuring the harnessing of power from renewable sources of energy like wind (Government of India, “Introduction”). The ministry seeks to ensure that there was a development of measures that sought to ensure self-sufficiency by developing nonrenewable sources of energy like wind energy. In effect, this ensures that producing and relying on wind power made the country achieve self-sufficiency in terms of developing power that was clean and cheaper. In fact, India has developed wind power and connected it to its national grid. In addition, the country has enhanced the development of Small Wind Energy and Hybrid Systems used by citizens in instances whereby the grid electricity was not available (Government of India, “Off-Grid Power”). As a result, wind energy has ensured that the population that was not served by the national grid has electricity for mechanical and electrical consumption. India has been able to reduce the balance of payment arising from importing oil with its price and quantity increasing each year by a substantial amount. In addition, the country has been able to protect itself from the effects of the constant shortage of supply of oil that the world experiences. In effect, developing and using wind energy has ensured that the country developed self-sufficiency measures that enhanced its development and growth (Government of India, “Introduction”). Using nonrenewable energy contributes to environmental pollution. In line with this, the power from nonrenewable energy contributed to about half of India’s carbon emissions (Sargasyan et al. 4). However, the country has been able to control the amount of pollution from carbon emissions from nonrenewable energy since wind energy does not produce any form of pollution. In this case, wind energy improves the quality of air and the local environment in the country. In effect, the use of wind energy will enhance the health of the country’s population since a clean environment is an indication of the unavailability of predisposing factors to diseases. There are no harmful effects of using wind energy. In effect, wind energy is safe in comparison to other forms of energy, more so the nonrenewable sources of energy like gas and oil. Perhaps the only safety precautionary measure that developers of wind energy should take is to ensure that they practiced safety standards at the production sites, which is a factor the ministry responsible for wind energy recognizes (Government of India, “Wind). The potential use of wind energy has the prospective of enlarging the national grid. However, developing wind power requires the setting up of wind farms, which might utilize land meant for agricultural purposes. In this case, this might pose a potential challenge to the food production sector if many countries adopted wind energy while utilizing land that was fertile to setup wind farms. Hence, this might pose a challenge to food production in the world. On the other hand, potential use of wind energy will deal with the perennial problem of pollution in nations of the world. Briefly, it is evident that India has benefitted from the use of wind energy. The country has been able to provide power to the relevant population that cannot access the national grid. Driven by the needs to conserve the environment, ensuring self-sufficiency, and reducing the balance of payment due to the high cost of oil, India has been able to develop the use of wind energy and ensure that the achievement of these objectives remained on track. With the wind energy being safe, the potential effect the adoption of this form of energy poses to India and other countries in the world regards the use of land meant for agricultural purposes to set wind farms. Works Cited Government of India Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. Introduction. n.d. Web. 6 November 2012. . ---.Off-Grid Power. n.d. Web. 6 November 2012. . ---. Wind. n.d. Web. 6 November 2012. . Invest India. Power. 2012. Web. 6 November 2012. . Sargsyan, Gevorg, Mikul Bhatia, Sudeshna Ghosh Banerjee , Krishnan Raghunathan, and Ruchi Soni. Unleashing the Potential of Renewable Energy in India (World Bank Studies). Washington D.C.: World Bank Publications, 2011. Print. Read More