(Formerly Non-Conventional Energy Development Corporation of Andhra Pradesh Ltd.,)
Wind Energy is an indirect form of Solar Energy. About 1% of the total solar radiation
that reaches earth is converted into energy of wind. Wind results from differential
heating of the earth and its atmosphere by sun. As the sun heats different parts
of the earth at different rates, air circulates from cold to warm areas producing
winds. Wind energy has been used for thousands of years to propel sailing ships
and for pumping water and grinding grain. The application of wind energy has several
advantages like low gestation period, no raw-material cost, non-polluting etc. The
development in this sector was accelerated after the formation of Department of
Non-Conventional Energy Sources and later renamed as Ministry of New and Renewable
Energy (MNRE), Govt. of India., which offers policy and financial incentives to
projects based on renewable energy sources in the country.
The oil crisis in 1973 revived the interest in the renewable sources of energy including
wind energy. Different agencies like NAL, Bangalore, BHEL and some of the private
entrepreneurs took up the design and development of windmills for pumping applications.
MNRE had launched the wind resource assessment programme with the help of IITM now
Centre for wind energy technology, Chennai to identify windy sites for various applications
of wind energy. New and Renewable Energy Development Corporation of A.P. Ltd (NREDCAP),
the Nodal Agency in A.P. has taken up wind mapping and wind monitoring projects
with the support of MNRE, Govt. of India, Delhi and C-WET, Chennai to identify windy
sites. Andhra Pradesh is one of the States in the country having windy sites suitable
for setting up of wind power projects.