Wind energy project in Karnataka, India
Context
India has one of the fastest growing energy demands in the world, yet 74% of its electricity still comes from fossil fuels. One way in which to accelerate the transition towards clean energy is to expand its wind power sector.
Wind power comes from wind turbines, which turn the energy of wind into electrical energy. Most turbines have two or three blades which are designed to spin when the wind hits them at a certain angle. The blades then spin a rotor which powers a generator to produce electricity. Onshore wind turbines provide some of the cheapest forms of renewable energy we have.
Project
The purpose of this project activity is to generate power using renewable wind energy and sell this power to the state grid, displacing electricity generated from fossil fuels.
The project involves the installation of 10 wind turbines at a site located in the state of Karnataka in India. The turbines will stand at a height of 125m and a diameter of 97m. These turbines will convert wind energy into electricity which will then be exported to the regional grid system. This displaces an equivalent amount of energy that would otherwise be generated by the fossil fuel based power plants that currently dominate the grid.
The wind power plant will generate 47,829 MWh of clean, renewable energy a year. The project will therefore reduce the amount of greenhouse gases that are released into the atmosphere, leading to emissions reductions of 45,317 tCO2e per year.
This project will also generate employment opportunities for local people during its construction and operation phases, as well as leading to development of improved infrastructure within the local area, such as the building of new roads.
Verification
This project is verified by the Gold Standard. You can view it on the Gold Standard registry here.
Climate Solution #2
Onshore wind turbines
Onshore wind turbines generate electricity at a utility scale, comparable to power plants. They replace fossil fuels with emissions-free electricity.
Today, 314,000 wind turbines supply nearly 4 percent of global electricity, and it will soon be much more. In 2015, a record 63 gigawatts of wind power were installed around the world.
Onshore wind farms have small footprints, typically using no more than 1 percent of the land they sit on, so grazing, farming, recreation, or conservation can happen simultaneously with power generation. What’s more, it takes one year or less to build a wind farm—quickly producing energy and a return on investment.