Sustainability of Wind Power : Daily Current Affairs

Relevance: GS-3: Infrastructure: Energy; Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation.

Key Phrases: Global renewable energy supply, carbon neutral, energy transition, carbon emissions, wind potential, climate change.

Highlights:

Together with solar power, wind power is set to become the key pillar of the global renewable energy supply.

Benefits:

Generating power from wind is not only carbon neutral, it can also be used to produce hydrogen and synthetic fuels like kerosene and diesel in a climate-friendly way.
With the sun, wind is so abundant that it has the potential to supply the entire global energy demand a few times over. This will be vital for the energy transition.

Analysis of Wind Power:

1. Concern: Building wind turbines is a very energy-intensive process, especially the production of the steel towers and the concrete foundations.

According to the German Environment Agency (UBA), wind power plants take between 2 1/2 to 11 months to generate the amount of energy that was needed for their construction.
On average, wind turbines are operated for about 25 years. During this time, they generate 40 times more energy compared to the energy required for the production, operation and the disposal of a wind power plant.
So-called upstream emissions, generated mostly through the production of carbon-intensive steel and cement, are included in the overall carbon balance of a wind turbine's life cycle.
As per UBA, An onshore wind turbine that is newly built today produces around 9 grams of CO2 for every kilowatt hour (kWh) it generates.
- A new offshore plant in the sea emits 7 grams of CO2 per kWh.
By comparison, solar power plants emit 33 grams CO2 for every kWh generated.
- Meanwhile, power generated from natural gas produces 442 grams CO2 per kWh, power from hard coal 864 grams, and power from lignite, or brown coal, 1,034 grams.
- As per global anti-nuclear movement WISE, nuclear energy accounts for about 117 grams of CO2 per kWh, considering the emissions caused by uranium mining and the construction and operation of nuclear reactors.

2. Issues with Recycling:

Due to their long lifetime, only a few old plants have so far been decommissioned. But by 2050, up to 50,000 wind farms will need to be shut down and replaced by newer and much more efficient wind power technology.
- This will require the disposal of much of the concrete found in the foundation, steel in the tower and the gear box and a compound of plastic with glass or carbon fiber used in the rotor blades.
- The concrete can be crushed and used in roadworks, and the precious steel can be recycled into new steel. Other valuable metals such as copper and aluminum can be reused.
But recycling the rotor blades made from plastic composites is more difficult. In the United States, old rotor blades have so far ended up in disposal sites. In Europe, they have mostly been used as alternative fuel in cement kilns and waste incinerators.
- Recyclable rotor blades for large offshore plants are currently being produced in Denmark.
- By 2030, the plant constructor Siemens Gamesa plans to only sell recyclable rotor blades: from 2040 the production of the company's wind power plants is expected to be completely carbon neutral.

3. Ecological Concerns:

Some environmentalists have demanded that wind power plants not be installed in natural reserves or in migratory bird stopover sites so as not to endanger animals.
- To mitigate this impact, an increasing number of large-scale wind power plants are also being equipped with cameras and software technology that aim to avoid collisions with birds by switching off the turbines before they come too close.
Whales, seals and fish have also been disturbed by noisy construction works on the seabed when the foundations for offshore wind plants are built.
- From a technical point of view, this problem has largely been solved via a ring of tiny air bubbles used during constructions activities that dampens noise by around 90%.
- Offshore wind plants can even have a positive effect on sea animals since the respective area can no longer be used for trawl fishery, allowing fish stocks to recover. Moreover, the plants' foundations become colonized by sea creatures such as mussels.

4. Impact of Climate Change:

While warm summers are often windless, many places are stormy in the colder months and during winter. Yet, this does not mean that wind power is threatened by climate change. Researchers believe that rising temperatures are not going to significantly lower global wind power.
While the jet stream located 8 to 12 kilometres above sea level is slowed down by global warming, this does not affect the year-round energy yield of wind power plants.
Ultimately, wind capacity will be little affected by rising temperatures: while summers will be less breezy, future winters are predicted to be windier.

Impact in India:

The power generation performance of wind power projects has been adversely impacted due to lower wind speeds, resulting from Climate Change.
- India’s wind power generation has been down by around 40% during the peak wind season in the year 2020.
- Peak season begins in June and ends in September, accounts for three-fourth of India's annual wind power generation.
- This decline during June - September was registered across the major wind bearing areas of the western region states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Goa; and the southern region states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka and Telangana.
- Due to climate change, rainfall patterns and warming are also changing, along with the changes in the wind regime, leading to variability in wind speed.

India’s Wind Power:

The wind resource assessment conducted by the National Institute of Wind Energy indicates an estimated wind power potential of 695.5 GW at 120 meter above ground level for India.
India’s installed wind power generation capacity has touched 39.99 GW in 2021, with a tariff of ₹2.69-2.70 per unit as discovered in the latest bid of state-run Solar Energy Corporation of India.
This comes in the backdrop of India’s non-fossil fuel-based capacity meeting the 40% target under the nationally determined contribution (NDC) at COP-21.
India has already reached an emission reduction of 28% (targeted 35%).
At the recently held COP-26 in Glasgow, the government announced to cut the net carbon emissions to zero by 2070.

Conclusion:

Due to its advantages, wind energy has been one of the fastest-growing energy sources in the world. Research efforts should be aimed at addressing the challenges to greater use of wind energy.

Source: DW.Com

Mains Question:

Q. Wind power is essential to fighting climate change, yet critics has questioned its long term sustainability. Critically Analyse and also give the prospect of Wind power in India. (250 Words).