Tuppadahalli wind park is located in the state of Karnataka, India. Image courtesy of Acciona. The Tuppadahalli wind farm was built by ACCIONA. Image courtesy of Acciona. The wind farm consists of 34 Vestas wind turbines. Image courtesy of Acciona. The V82 wind turbines are rated at 1.65MW each. Image courtesy of Acciona.

Tuppadahalli onshore wind farm is a 56.1MW power project being built in Karnataka, India. The wind farm is located about 55km from Chitradurga and 260km from Bangalore, the capital city of Karnataka.

The €58m ($79m) project is owned, operated and developed by ACCIONA Energy, a Spanish company. Its construction was started in October 2010 and was fully completed by second quarter of 2011. It is ACCIONA’s third wind farm in India. The company operates two more wind farms in the state, which include the Arasinagundi (13.2MW) and Anabaru (16.5MW) wind parks, which were opened in 2007 and 2008 respectively.

The Tuppadahalli wind farm produces 140GWh of clean energy per annum, which is sufficient to power around 35,000 Indian homes. It reduces some 129,000t of CO 2 emissions annually.

The Mangalore Electricity Supply Company (MESCOM), state-owned and operated distribution utility, purchases the power generated by the project under a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA).

The project was built to comply with the clean development mechanism (CDM) system under the Kyoto Protocol. The CDM registered projects enjoy financial benefits through trading of certified emission reduction (CER) units.

Wind turbines at Tuppadahalli energy facility

“Each turbine has a rotor diameter of 82m and hub height of 78m.”

The Tuppadahalli wind farm comprises 34 Vestas V82 wind turbines rated at 1.65MW each. The Vestas V82 is Det Norske Veritas (DNV) certified to meet the wind industry requirements. Each turbine has a rotor diameter of 82m and hub height of 78m. The simple design of the turbine enables easy and affordable operations and maintenance.

The ACMOOO2 version 13 methodology was used to connect the wind farm to the grid.

Contractors involved with the Tuppadahalli wind farm

Wind turbines manufacturer, Vestas was awarded a contract to supply and commission 34 Vestas wind turbines for the Tuppadahalli project in 2010. The delivery of the wind turbines started in the fourth quarter of 2010.

“The loan will be repaid through a 14 year amortisation period, which is one of the longest sanctioned periods for Indian wind power project.”

The company also supplied VestasOnline® business SCADA system and signed a ten year service and maintenance agreement under the supply and commission contract.

The contract was awarded by Tuppadahalli Energy India, a special purpose vehicle (SPV) established by Acciona Energy India for the Tuppadahalli wind project.

Financing for ACCIONA’s third wind farm in Karnataka

Infrastructure Development Finance Company (IDFC) provided €33m ($40m) structured long term financing for the project in December 2010, providing 60% of the total project cost.

IDFC sanctioned €8.8m ($10.6m) as the first installment of the loan facility, upon the completion of agreement formalities. The agreement was completed in a record three months period.

The loan will be repaid through a 14 year amortisation period, which is one of the longest sanctioned periods for Indian wind power projects.

India’s wind power market and Karnataka’s role

Related project Tamil Nadu Wind Farm, India Twenty wind turbines have completed the 25.5MW Tamil Nadu Muppandal wind farm on the southern tip of India.

India plays a significant role in the world’s wind power market. The country possessed a build up capacity of 16,084MW by the end of 2011. In order to spread renewable energy across the nation, the Indian Government announced a policy to achieve 82,000MW of wind power by 2022.

The Indian Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has outlined the probability of around 90,000MW power generation from various forms of renewable energy resources. The potential for renewable power generation includes about 48,561MW capacity of wind power.

The mean individual capacity of wind turbines installed in India is 1MW. It is estimated to increase to 1.5MW by 2013 and will reach 2MW by 2030.

The state of Karnataka is rich in wind farms compared with others in India. Karnataka Renewable Energy Policy 2009-2014 aims to achieve around 2,969MW wind power capacity by 2014. The state’s present installed capacity is around 1,368MW.