Wind Energy In India Is Powering Over 1M Homes, But At What Cost_ _ Power To The People

With more than 3,000 wind turbines, Muppandal is the biggest onshore wind farm in India. Landowners have sold parcels of generational land to companies, with the hope that the villagers will experience better jobs and amenities. As land prices shoot up, not everyone on the ground is happy. As the number of wind turbines is increasing, the number of wind turbines in the entire Arulamalli area is increasing. There are 52 wind turbines in Kanyakumari district. There are more than 52 wind turbines in Arulamalli. There is no wind in any of the 52 wind turbines. The Western Ghats, a mountain range along the western coast of India, significantly influence the wind patterns in the region where Arulvai Molli is located. When the wind from the Arabian Sea passes through, the mountain range acts as a barrier, forcing the winds upward, generating strong breezes on its sheltered side, where the wind farms are situated. Muthukumar comes from a farming family and has witnessed the change to the development of the town firsthand. Dalmia Cement Company has acquired a minimum of 100 acres of land. Ramco Cement Company has acquired a minimum of 100 acres of land. Pandian Chemicals Pvt. Ltd. has acquired a minimum of 100 acres of land. They have acquired all the land here and installed windmills. The windmills are the reason why we are here today. Sivaraja is a senior engineer with RS Wind Tech Engineers, a company specializing in wind turbines installations and maintenance. Sivaraja lives in Arulvai Molli and has been working at the Muppandal Wind Farm for the past 20 years. As part of his responsibilities, Sivaraja conducts daily inspections and ensures the operational performance of wind turbines. Typically, a wind turbine tower consists of the tower. However, taller towers aim to capture more wind energy. The blades – to spin and turn the shafts and generator. And the nacelle – contains gearbox and generator. A small amount of electricity triggers the blades to start to spin. The shaft turns the generator and produces electricity. The amount of current produced depends on the size of the wind turbine's overall structure, including the generator size. The current is directed to the ground, sent to a transformer and eventually to the primary power grid. Their goal is to ensure that each turbine consistently delivers a dependable and steady output. Each wind turbine in Muppandal can produce electricity ranging from 200 kW to 1,650 kW. The wind farm generates approximately 1,500 MW of electricity. Enough to power over 1 million homes daily. The electricity generated by each turbine is sold to the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board, the state's power provider, by the owners of the respective wind turbines. Nixon is a land agent, locally known as a land promoter. He secures land for wind farm owners, who buy up land space for turbines to be placed on. The land space is measured and determined by the diameter of the wind turbine's rotor. Typically, a wind turbine requires 1 to 1.5 acres of land space. Small-sized land plots are still sold by individual landowners. Nixon earns a variable commission rate from each successful land transaction. Being in the field for more than a decade, he has witnessed first-hand the change in the land pricing. As Arulvai Moli continues to modernize, more opportunities knock on Nixon's door. As a land agent, he's constantly on the hunt for potential new lands, based on the demand by wind farm owners. Today, he's meeting with Alex, a landowner. Alex, like his late father, is an architect by profession. He currently owns a 2.3-acre land parcel. The space works well for Nixon. A land such as this is hard to come by. Nixon hopes to secure the deal. But Alex is reluctant, for a particular reason. More than building a treehouse, the land was passed down to him by his late father. Despite Nixon's US$24,000 offer, Alex feels the price will only go up from here on. This road is the next development. So this land will definitely go up. We'll be with them for the next two years. You know, there's pure air. We don't have a price. I can't say there's a price for everything. This land is for the wind in this valley. Alex's thinking is that in 10-15 years, the land market will go up. So we can sell it then. How much will it cost? More than 3 lakhs. The oil crisis in the 1970s led India to reconsider its energy strategies, sparking interest in wind energy development in the 1980s. This shift was aimed at prioritising sustainable, locally sourced energy solutions. In the early 90s, the government introduced tax incentives for the wind energy sector to promote its growth. Several energy companies came on board with their wind turbines, and the Muppandal Wind Farm was created. RS Wind Tech Engineers has been operating in Kanyakumari since the 1990s. The company oversees the maintenance of more than 1,000 wind turbines across India. Today, Senior Engineer Sivarajah and his team are amid the final stages of servicing the main component of a faulty wind turbine, the nacelle. The bearing in the gearbox has failed. If the bearing fails, abnormal noise will occur and the gearbox will be totally damaged. That is why we have downsized the nacelle and replaced all the bearings. The nacelle, often likened to the brain of a wind turbine, houses three main parts. The gearbox, generator and control system. The gearbox speeds up blade rotation for electricity generation, while the generator converts this motion into electrical power. This is our workshop. This is where we dismantle the gearbox and replace all the bearings. The reassembly is done here. Tomorrow, we are going to load the nacelle on top of the wind turbine. The nacelle will be successfully erected tomorrow. Arulvai Murali changed in the 1990s as wind farms began populating the landscape. Many locals sold their freehold agricultural lands for cash. As demand for land increased, so did the price. Today, pockets of land parcels are still negotiated and change hands through land agents. Murugan, where are you? Is this the location? Yes, this is the location. Nixon, a land agent, is meeting with Murugan, a local businessman. He has a piece of land up for sale. You can call me anytime. You can come here whenever you want. Is this the road? Yes. This is where we live. We have a lot of land here. We have sold millions of acres of land. Murugan is actively seeking to sell his additional two-acre land. He is aware that land price has increased and hopes for a good deal. This is an area with a lot of wind. We didn't know this place existed in the first place. We sold our land to a wind farm. We didn't know much about the land, so we sold it to a wind farm. We knew that the wind farm was number one in India. We knew that they were making a lot of money. The wind farm is a good area. That's when the value of the land increased. Mr. Nixon is a good broker. He has bought a lot of land and sold it to us. We knew that. We told him that we would get a good deal for the land. Mr. Nixon is a good broker. He has bought a lot of land and sold it to us. We told him that. But a land sale such as this requires fulfilling several criteria. Like zoning regulations, land ownership title verification and infrastructure availability. After an initial assessment of the plot, Nixon looks into the legal aspects. Not all types of land, especially agricultural farming lots, can be sold to wind farms. According to the current Tamil Nadu case, you can't sell agricultural land to a wind farm. You can't convert it into a house plot. We can't do agriculture now. We can't do agriculture because of the water supply. So we can't do agriculture. But they convert the land and buy a certificate from them. We sell the land based on that. We didn't sell it because it was an agricultural land. Lawrence feels the general well-being of the locals has improved since the development of the wind farm industry. Because of the wind farm industry, the economic status of the people has improved. The land at a low price has been sold at a high price. It's the beginning of an arduous day for the team at RS Wintec Engineers. They are ready to transport a repaired nacelle from a wind turbine back to the site for reinstallation. Senior engineer Sivaraja is overseeing the operations. Despite the work site being a mere 2km away, Sivaraja's crew must secure the nacelle firmly onto the lorry to minimise any potential movement or damage. Over the past couple of weeks, the engineers from RS Wintec repaired a faulty wind turbine and are now ready to reinstall it. Even if a small mistake is made, anything can happen. There are a lot of people down there. There are a lot of manpower and technicians. Even if a small mistake is made, accidents can happen. So we have to be very careful. Abaise. Abaise and swing. We'll hit the tower. Abaise. Abaise. Abaise. Abaise. There are three people up there. They are installing the nacelle. Once the nacelle is installed, they will give the command to the crane operator. They will operate with that command. They will mount it correctly. My job is to pass the command to the crane operator. Stop Abaise. Throw the boom down. Reinstalling the nacelle will take about eight hours of work, involving more than 25 men at different stages. Once the 48-volt is finished, the next process starts. Once the 48-volt is fully tight, the rope is removed from the crane and the belt is released. Then we can start working on the blade. Meanwhile, a local businessman, Murugan, hopes to sell his plot of land to a wind farm company through Nixon, a land agent. Nixon is an experienced land agent. He can estimate the land's suitability based on several factors, including the legal aspects. As land space becomes filled with machines, pathways to access each turbine are crucial. Also, an additional five metres from the turbine's rotational diameter is a strict guideline for safety purposes. Murugan's land does not have that additional space. While some lands are deemed unsuitable for wind farm development, others have sold them in the past for a much lower price. Mahalingam, a farmer, sold a portion of his land in the 90s. He comes from a large family with eight siblings who all inherited portions of generational lands. He's left with about 1.5 acres of land, which he uses for small crops. Some of his family members, including his sister, live within the community. We don't have a lot of land. We just use a little bit of water to make small plots of land. We don't get anything from the land. The soil is ruined, and the wind blows the branches. Mahalingam sold three points of land to the wind farm developers. One point is equal to 80 cents, or 0.8 acres of land. He earned a total of 12 lakhs, about US$14,000. This was in the 90s. With the current value of land prices having shot up, Mahalingam and family are left with seller's regret. Mahalingam's family feels the wind farms could do more for the community. The wind farm is in nearby Arulamalli. They could help by reducing the cost of the unit. On the other side of Arulamalli, Ananda Kumar is grazing his cattle. He faces a peculiar problem due to the wind farm development. Kumar's cows need to graze, but most areas with wind turbines are fenced. With the increasing installation of wind turbines, the distance that Kumar and his cows need to travel also grows longer. Consequently, they are compelled to graze alongside the main highway, which poses significant hazards. As the cattle face their problem, the birds too seem to have a hazardous issue. For over 10 years, Hopeland has been an independent ecologist focused on biodiversity research and providing environmental impact consulting services. He's based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Currently, as part of his research, he's conducting biodiversity studies in relation to wind farms. Biodiversity is basically all living organisms. It can range from your plants to birds to insects to reptiles to mammals. Looking at why biodiversity is important, every movement that we make is connected to something else. Effectively, when one species dies out in a location, it triggers a number of other cascading effects which will make the other species die out from the location and the next one and the next one. All these things, in the end, affect us. As an academic and advisor to policy makers, Hopeland is interested in the movement of diverse species in the Muppandal Wind Farm region. He also sees the need for better understanding and studies related to the wind farm industry. Somewhere here nearby now, there's another smaller bird. So this is a warbler. It comes all the way from parts of Europe. You can hear the chit-chit kind of call. What inspired me was basically that from the time I was a child, I had the opportunity to live around nature. So it started off with simple things like bird watching and rescuing a few injured animals and things like that. So if you take the windmill ecosystem, what's essentially happening is, for example, the raptors, which are birds of prey that feed on other animals and they are removed from the ecosystem because they're either displaced because they're afraid of the windmills or they're getting hit by the windmills and therefore dying. This definitely is a wind turbine hit because we can see remains of the parts of the body of the bird still linked to the feather. It's definitely a raptor or a bird of prey. The windmill has become the mega-predator. Hopeland, an independent ecologist, is keen to explore the impact on biodiversity in Muppandal's wind farm. There have been no direct studies conducted here to my knowledge looking at the impact of wind farms on birds or other wildlife here. According to Hopeland, winds shape the way birds use the space. Here, wind has the ability to shape not just what kind of birds or plants here, but also everything from your plants which we perceive that can't move but actually move with the help of birds and other things. What I'm doing now is what is called a carcass survey all around a wind turbine and you look for dead birds that could be hit by the wind turbine. Here we have a carcass. As you can see, the feathers are scattered so it could be within a time frame of a month so you don't have parts of the body left anymore but only chunks of the feathers. This is also how a carcass will look like when you're finding it. This is again a raptor. Like I said, raptors are more prone to getting hit by the turbines because they're mostly using the warm air to get the lift and things like that. The windmill has become the mega-predator playing the role of birds that feed on other birds. Hopeland's initial findings point him in a direction where he thinks the food chain is broken. But in a normal good ecosystem you would have animals like that who are called scavengers so they will come and feed on these things. But in this case, it's most likely that this just got basically decomposed into the soil is what is most likely to have happened. Hopeland gathers data, such as the distance between the carcass and the nearest windmill to support his study. This definitely is a wind turbine hit because we can see remains of the parts of the body of the bird still linked to the feather. So the decomposition has happened right here. It was not necessarily eaten by an animal. If it was eaten by an animal, you shouldn't see signs of decomposition mostly. Now we'll go back and sort of analyze and look at what species it could be based on comparing it with other specimens or photographs. At the conclusion of his study, Hopeland will consolidate his findings and provide policymakers with recommendations in an effort to protect the area's biodiversity. If we understand, let's say that during the migratory season is when most birds are getting hit. A corridor needs to be maintained for them, for example. When they have met their targets, the windmills are stopped by the company. Generally have cutoff time for the windmills to be running. Then can we come up with a policy that optimizes both conserving the birds, providing them a safe passage during the migratory period and meeting our energy targets? As the head of the town council, Muthukumar is at an important event for Aravaimoli. In Aravaimoli, for so many years, there were only light bulbs. There were only tube lights in all the bowls. In Aravaimoli, LED lights have been passed today. In the midst of that, in this first bowl, we are starting LED lights today. The change from fluorescent lights to LED is yet another milestone of growth for the town. Over the years, the town and its residents have seen exponential growth thanks to the wind industry's presence and development. With the windmills, the benefits for Aravaimoli, for the town council, and for all the companies, we have over 100 companies who have taken GST and are paying tax. The income for the town council comes from the companies. Since all the companies are coming here, the CSR fund, for the Aravaimoli needs, has been given to 5 bus stops. There is no bus stop there. It has been given to a bus stop. The road facilities... In a KLR4 windmill company, they have built a road. Muthukumar feels the advantages of having a wind farm industry outweigh the disadvantages, such as the wind turbine's guarantee lasting up to 25 years. The leaves fall in some places and cause damage. There is a minus, but there is also a plus. I am 29 years old. I completed my 12th standard. I did my diploma in electrical engineering I was interested in the wind industry, so I joined this job. I am a technician at a workshop. Siva, an engineering graduate, joined the industry straight out of college. I am a farmer. I was interested in the wind industry, so I completed my B.E., Bachelor of Engineering, and joined the mechanical department. I was selected for the job through an interview. Many of Arul Vaimoli's youngsters are looking into the wind farm engineering industry as a career. Engineers get a job vacancy because of this. Before, there was only agriculture. There was no industry for youngsters in the South Zone. Electricity is always needed, so everyone uses this job. Back at the worksite, Sivaraja and his team are at the final stages of reinstalling the wind turbine. The nacelle has been securely mounted on the tower. It's time for the team to lift the massive blades off the ground. This is the most crucial aspect of the process. We need to check if the rope is in the correct position, and if the person holding it is standing properly. Only then can we load the blades. If we want to control the rope, we need at least 20-25 manpower. It's a must. Load the rope and hold it! Don't hit it! Hold it! Let go! Sivaraja has been on the job for more than 16 years. He has dismantled and reinstalled nacelles and the blades from various sized turbines. But he knows the risk of anything going wrong is always present. Tighten the rope! Sivaraja and his team are concerned with the wind speed. Any higher, they must stop work. Hold on! Okay! Hold on! Five hours later, the reinstallation is complete. The successful completion of the reinstallation project is just another day's work for Sivaraja and his crew. Tomorrow morning, we will lay the power cable, connect it, check the combination, and run it tomorrow. Vanila has supported us a lot. We are happy that the work was successful.