Wind: Moving air is called wind. The motion of sair happens due to several complex geographical, topological and weather related parameters. Earth's rotation adds to wind's kinetic energy fluctuations.

Uses: Wind is been used directly for various energy needs of human activities, such as sailing ships, water pumping, and grain processing etc. If wind energy is converted to electrical energy, then in today's world the utility is almost for all the purposes.

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WIND ENERGY DEVELOPMENT IN KARGIL

Wind Energy Development in Kargil has been initiated by the demonstration projects established by Kargil Renewable Energy Development Agency (KREDA) under the guidance of the C-WET, an R & D organization established under the MNRE, in highly windy areas of the district. There are five sites with plenty of wind blowing, which have been identified as candidate sites for Resource Assessment Programme and development of Wind Farms in the region.
Wind Resource Assessment (WRA) Programme is an ongoing activity, which is being implemented by the Centre for Wind Energy Technology (C-WET), Chennai. Five candidate sites in Kargil approved for the installation of wind masts for wind resource assessment:

S.No.	Site Name	Block	Executing Agency / Company
1	Khumbathang	TSG	C-WET in collaboration with Ramakrishna
2	Photang	Zanskar	C-WET in collaboration with Ramakrishna
3	Rangdum	Tai-Suru	C-WET in collaboration with Ramakrishna
4	Hambutingla	Kargil	C-WET in collaboration with Ramakrishna
5	Lakhthang	Drass	C-WET in collaboration with Ramakrishna

Wind Resource Assessment Development

So far KREDA has completed the wind mast installation work at all the sites and the masts are ready to collect wind data, which is necessary for the evaluation of wind resource of all the five selected sites. The masts have an erected height sufficient to attain the height measurement level i.e. 50 meters from ground level. Three chips have been replaced so far. Structurally the wind masts are stable and are equipped with grounding and lightening measures. It was essential because each mast is having electronic data loggers and sensors (for wind speed, wind direction, radiation, temperature and pressure etc.), for collecting data.

All the wind masts have sensor supporting hardware which consists of booms to fix different types of sensors. The booms are sufficiently long to minimise any influence of the tower itself and have been properly placed in wind direction.

Different Sensors for Different Measurements

Wind Speed:

For the measurement of the prevailing wind speed, the Cup-Anemometer has been used at each site in Kargil, which is also the most commonly used instrument for the measurement of near horizontal wind speed. At least one cup out of three always faces the wind and thus the aerodynamic shape converts the wind pressure to rotational torque. Anemometers make use of the pressure, kinetic energy of the wind to measure its speed.

Wind Direction:

Wind EnergyWind direction is regarded as the direction from which the wind blows and is expressed in degrees measured clockwise from the true north. In order to identify and clarify the wind direction time to time, Wind Vanes have been placed at necessary heights on the wind mast. A wind vane is fundamentally a body mounted asymmetrically about a vertical axis, on which it is free to turn with a pointer at one end and a flat at the other.
The above parameters, Wind Speed and Wind Direction are called the basic parameters , which are to be measured in all the wind resources related studies. Some other parameters are also there which are called optional parameters. These are Temperature, Pressure and Solar Radiation.

The monitoring heights of the basic/optional parameters at all the five sites in District Kargil:

S.No.	Parameters	Unit	Monitoring Heights
1	Wind Speed	m/s	10m, 30m, 50m
2	Wind Direction	Degree	30m, 50m
3	Temperature	(oC)	03m
4	Pressure	Mb	03m
5	Solar Radiation	w/m2	03m

Each site has same parameters at same heights.

Retrospect:

The mast erection at five sites was completed in two phases; (i) laying concrete foundations, and (ii) erecting wind monitoring masts. At each site ten nos. of 1m x 1m x 1m pits were to dig in four directions and fill those with concrete placing one hook in each for holding cable wires tighten to the mast, which could keep the mast tower stable from all the four sides.

After the completion of the foundation work the erection phase started. Five nos. of wind monitoring masts, all having same height of 50m and equipped with all the necessary instruments, were erected at each site. It took almost twelve days for the team to complete the installations at five sites.

Site Details :

S.No.	Site Name	Site Number	Date of Installation
1	Khumbathang	525	13/10/2011
2	Photang Zanskar	526	16/10/2011
3	Rangdum	527	17/10/2011
4	Hambutingla	528	21/10/2011
5	Lakhthang	529	22/10/2011

All the five sites have been periodically supervised/visited by KREDA members.

The site visit contained the information on the tower, data logger and its functionality, functions of the sensors, booms and its orientation, wiring connections and all other necessary components. So far one year wind data has been collected and sent to C-WET. Five more New sites have been identified for mast installation.