Wind farms vulnerable to fire

LONDON: Wind turbines are catching fire 10 times more often than reported, a new study has shown. 

Compared to other energy industries such as oil and gas, fires are much less common in wind turbines. However, the cost of each wind turbine is more than 2 million pounds (Rs.20 crore) and it generates an income of more than 500,000 pounds (Rs.5 crore) per year. 

Any loss or downtime of these valuable assets makes the industry less viable and productive. 

The study involved about 200,000 turbines. The researchers found that an average of 11.7 fires are reported publicly, but more than 117 separate fires are breaking out in turbines every year. 

"Worryingly our report shows that fire may be a bigger problem than what is currently reported. Our research outlines a number of strategies that can be adopted by the industry to make these turbines safer and more fire resistant in the future," said Guillermo Rein from the Imperial College, London. 

The team found that in 90 per cent cases, the fire either led to a lot of downtime or a total loss of the wind turbine. 

Wind turbines catch fire because highly flammable materials such as hydraulic oil and plastics are close to machinery and electrical wires. 

These can spark a fire if they overheat or are faulty. Lots of wind can quickly fan a fire inside a turbine. Once burning, the chances of fighting the blaze are low due to the height of the wind turbine and the remote locations they are often in. 

The researchers gave the main causes of fires outlined in decreasing order of importance to be lightning strike, electrical malfunction, mechanical failure, and maintenance errors. 

The research was published in the journal Fire Safety Science.

Stiesdal, Kjaersgaard leave Siemens

Two senior figures are leaving Siemens Wind Power with the departure of long-standing chief technology officer (CTO) Henrik Stiesdal and chief executive for onshore Jan Kjaersgaard.

Inox group plans to tap capital market for three companies

Inox Group, which has presence in diverse businesses including Industrial Gases, refrigerant, chemicals, cryogenic engineering, renewable energy and entertainment, is planning to hit the capital market for three of its companies. While wind power solutions provider Inox wind is expected to raise Rs 1000 crore from the market this year, two more group companies — Inox India and Inox Renewables are also in the pipeline to be listed.

“As a group we are very open to listing companies. Inox wind is going to the first one to get listed sometime this year for which we are awaiting final approval from Sebi. We are also looking at listing two more companies — Inox India Ltd, which the largest cryogenic engineering company in the country and Inox Renewables Ltd, one of the largest player in wind power,” Devnash Jain, director of the group told Busniess Standard.

Devnash Jain, who belongs to the promoter family, that controls the $ 2 billion group, is involved in spearheading the group's wind power solutions providing business as executive director of Inox Wind.

“Inox Wind is the subsidiary of Gujarat Fluorochemicals, which already a listed entity. So it's complies with most of Sebi guidelines. Inox Wind filed DRHP (Draft Red Herring Prospectus) with Sebi last. Our merchant bankers indicates we may get the approval from regulators soon. We are planning to raise Rs 1000 crore via public offers in this year only,” Jain said.Inox Wind, which manufactures wind turbines and related components, is implementing projects in states like Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. It has recently secured a Rs 900 crore order for 170Mw project in Madhya Pradesh from Continum Wind Energy — a Singapore-based company , indirectly majority owned by Morgan stanley Infrastructures partners.The listing of other two companies — Inox India and Inox Renewables. Inox India is country's largest cryogenic engineering company with a annual turnover of about Rs  1500 crore. Inox Renewables, on the other hans, is the largerst independent wind power producer with assets of about 250 MW, under construction capacity of 300 MW and a development pipeline of over 1000 MW.

The group currently has two listed entities — Gujarat Fluorochemicals, largrgets produces refrigerant, chloromethane and carbon credits in India and Inox Leisure — country’s second largest multiplex chain in India with 80 multiplexes having 313 screens in 44 cities.

Budget 2014: Confusion over tax concessions to wind energy sector

NEW DELHI: ArunJaitley's Budget speech was available in Hindi and English, identical in all respects, save one.

And that difference has the wind energy industry teetering between hope and despair because it isn't clear which version is right, at least not till the time of going to press.

The Hindi version promised the re-introduction of a tax break. The English one, which the finance minister actually read out in Parliament, is silent on the matter.

The tax concession is so attractive that, when originally introduced, it persuaded many of the rich and famous, including film star Aishwarya Rai, to invest in windmills.

A line on Page 22 of the Hindi speech reads: "Pavan urja ka tvarit vikas karne kay liye main tvarit avmulyan kay fayde ko punh bahal karne ka prastav raktha hun (I proposed to reintroduce the benefits of accelerateddepreciation to accelerate the growth of wind energy)."

Wind turbine makers, who have been pressing the government for two years to reinstate the benefit, don't know whether celebrations will be premature.

They have flooded the ministry of new and renewable energy with queries, but officials were unable to offer any clarifications. A government official said the ministry would take up the matter with the finance ministry. "We are hopeful that the outcome will be favourable for the wind power sector," the official told ET.

Earlier, investors could write off 80% of their investments in wind energy in the very first year, helping them save income tax and instal captive power generation capacity to reduce electricity bills.

According to industry estimates, investors in close to 16,000 MW of the country's total 21,262 MW installed wind capacity have availed the benefit of accelerated depreciation.

After it was withdrawn, the wind energy industry suffered a severe drop in new wind power installations.

In 2012-13, India added only 1,700 MW of wind power capacity as compared to 3,200 MW in 2011-12 after the benefit was ended. In 2013-14, the industry performed slightly better, with capacity addition of 2,000 MW.

India is one of the biggest wind energy producers in the world. The country has also aggressively promotedsolar energy as the government strives to promote clean sources of energy to help protect the environment and reduce the country's dependence on oil and coal.