A conversation with Malolan R Cadambi, Managing Director, Greenshore Energy
It has been difficult for the country's wind energy industry to get excited about tapping offshore wind. First of all, the untapped onshore potential itself is quite big, with less than 15% of the potential 1,00,000 mw realised till now. Secondly, since seabed is India's property, approvals are needed from at least six government agencies. That can be cumbersome.
Finally, offshore is relatively costlier - a factor that can't be discounted given the poor state of power utilities. Amid all this, a rare bullish voice comes from Malolan R Cadambi, managing director of the Bangalore-basedGreenshore Energy Pvt Ltd, a company that wants to do nothing but tap offshore wind in India.
"It's a little bit of ignorance to say that we are having a power crisis when we have potential in the sea," says Cadambi. The US department of energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory study does support his claim. It has pegged India's offshore developable potential at a huge 2,37,964 mw.
Cadambi says the sweet spot for offshore wind is off the coast of Tamil Nadu. Without counting a biosphere reserve off Rameshwaram, he estimates a potential of 30,000 mw, nearly five times Tamil Nadu's current installed wind capacity of 6,500 mw. "Tamil Nadu is the only state where both monsoons (south-west and north-east) criss-cross, giving it a unique advantage of having 10 months of good offshore wind speeds," he says.
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