After the shockingly low winds in July 2020, the Indian wind energy market has been on-edge and with good reason regarding July 2021’s winds. ArcVera Renewables recently published the July 2021 India Wind Anomaly Map showing Gujarat-based wind farms likely experienced a turnaround, and all other Indian wind-producing states have experienced much better winds in July 2021.
Using just-released anomaly maps for July 2021, ArcVera’s anomaly map analysis confirms that July’s wind speeds recovered substantially and were above average in some cases. The following July 2020 and July 2021 anomaly map visualizes the improvement in July 2021 (right side) compared to July 2020 (left side):
ArcVera’s analysis reviewed each of the Indian states with significant operational wind projects installed, and the following table provides a breakdown of typical values of the wind speed anomaly in percent (individual site values may differ) for July 2020 and July 2021, demonstrating the vast improvement in July 2021:
“ArcVera Renewables recognized the statistical anomaly represented by the 2020 Southwest Monsoon season in a series of analyses and research studies internally and for proprietary purposes. While it was statistically unlikely that the Southwest Monsoon season of 2020 would be repeated in 2021, our internal long-term climate forecasts, as well as earlier months already documented, bode well for the India wind energy through the remainder of this important season,” said Greg Poulos, Ph.D., ArcVera CEO and Principal Atmospheric Scientist, “While this recovery does not eliminate the energy production and deep financial sting of July 2020, or indeed the entire Southwest Monsoon season of 2020, ArcVera analysis revealed the Southwest Monsoon’s winds of 2021 are thus far much more favorable for wind energy than last year,” Poulos concluded.
ArcVera, a leading international provider of consulting and technical services for wind, solar, and energy storage projects, provides comprehensive wind and solar resource anomaly maps at the beginning of each month for several countries, including India. The anomaly maps enable wind and solar plant owners and operators to conduct a first-view analysis of the impact of resource variations on the power output of their assets.
“Since the extremely poor wind resource during India’s 2020 monsoon season, my clients were very concerned that climate change was permanently reducing the wind energy value of the monsoon season. The anomaly maps provide a quick way to see today that the 2021 wind resource is much closer to the long-term norm, and this is helping my clients stay focused on longer-term project development,” said Anbalagan CRA Ramasamy, Director of Business Development, Asia-Pacific & Middle East.
