Suzlon commissions offshore Met station in Arabian Sea

Renewable energy solutions provider Suzlon Group on Tuesday said it has commissioned its first operational offshore meteorological station in the Arabian Sea to collect wind data for two years.

In a statement issued here, the group said it was working on offshore wind energy technology and has initiated techno-commercial feasibility study.

Suzlon, along with its associates, under the guidance from the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), Chennai, and approvals through the National Institute of Wind Energy (NIWE), Chennai, had installed its first Operational Offshore LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging)-based wind measurement station in the Arabian Sea, southwest of Jakhau Port in Kutch, Gujarat, the statement said.

The offshore wind data collection platform has been installed at about 16 km from the shore in the territorial waters of Gujarat.

The unmanned met station will be powered by solar energy and will be remotely monitored for maintenance needs.

Engineers will visit the site for general inspection periodically and cater to the servicing needs in case of a breakdown.

Additionally, an onshore mast of 150m has also been installed for validation/ correlation purposes.

"Given India's coastline of 7,600 km, the country has enormous potential for offshore wind energy and it can potentially repeat the success achieved in onshore wind energy," J.P. Chalasani, Group CEO, Suzlon Group, was quoted as saying in the statement.

According to him, the central government's plan to auction five gigawatt (GW) offshore wind power capacities next year is a progressive move and will help the industry achieve the target of having 175GW renewable energy capacity by 2022.

"The installation of the offshore wind Met station will aid in better assessment of offshore wind and will lead the way in harnessing India's vast offshore wind energy potential," he added.

--IANS

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