Consumption of Wind Energy Composites forecast to grow 12.8% pa between 2013 and 2018
An enormous opportunity for raw materials used in the fabrication of
fiber-reinforced plastics (FRP) products exists in the Indian Wind
Energy Industry, as per Composite Insights. The demand for composite
materials in Indian Wind Energy Industry continued its growth momentum
till 2011. However, in 2012, the industry was affected by the withdrawal
of two key incentives by the government: accelerated depreciation and
generation-based incentive. In 2012, India was the fourth largest wind
market in the world, with around 1700 MW new capacity addition. With a
generation-based incentive of 50 paise per unit being introduced in the
Union Budget, India’s wind power capacity is poised to grow between 2013
and 2018. It is estimated by Composite Insights that more than 22
gigawatt of wind power capacity will be installed during this six year
period. The primary drivers continue to global warming concerns,
increasing security of supply and high oil prices. Indian Government
increased its focus on clean and domestic energy production, both of
which wind offers. India has drafted a model renewable energy law to
increase the target for electricity generation by renewable energy to
20% by 2020 of the total power generation in the country and has a
planned target of 15,000 MW of wind power to be installed between 2012
and 2017. During the past six years period (2007-2012), around 11,931 MW
of new wind capacity was installed. Around 22,053 MW of new wind
capacity is forecast to be installed, representing a 85% growth.
Composite materials are the materials of choice for developing wind
turbine blades and other components. It is estimated that around US$805
million worth of composite materials were used during the past six year
period (2007-2012). Followed by growth in new capacity addition, during
the next six years period (2013-2018), the consumption of composite
materials is expect to grow 96% to US$1576 (Rs 8,350 Crores). Fiberglass
is the major reinforcement used in Indian Wind Energy Industry. Epoxy
and Polyester Resins are the two leading resin matrices used. Epoxy
Resin proved as resin of choice and has gained a major segment share. LM
and Shriram are the two blade manufacturers that use polyester resin
for developing wind turbine blades in India. PVC Foam, SAN Foam, Balsa
Wood, PU Foam are the leading core materials used to develop sandwich
structures. Following domestic and export demand growth for wind turbine
blades, nacelle covers and nose cones, the demand for composite
materials in the Indian Wind Energy industry is expect to grow 12.8% per
year between 2013 and 2018, in terms of volume shipments.
The world’s growing appetite for wind energy has transformed wind
turbine blades into one of the hottest composite applications around.
The huge demand for wind power generating equipments - particularly in
the U.S and China as top tier and India, Germany, Spain, Italy, UK and
France as second tier - has raised a bumper crop of new plants for
manufacturing these composite parts. Emerging markets such as Brazil and
Turkey forecast to contribute to the future growth. Again the year 2012
brought new records for wind energy new capacity installation around
the globe. In spite of the global economic crisis, investment in new
wind turbines exceeded by far all previous years. Global wind energy
market is expect to continue its slow growth momentum, with the world’s
wind power installed capacity reaching to 572 GW by end of 2017.
Wind turbine blade industry includes companies that develop blades for
captive use and companies that sell to wind turbine suppliers. Between
2007 and 2012, the share of independent suppliers has dramatically
increased, as there were many small wind turbine suppliers entered the
market.
Fiberglass is the major reinforcement used in Wind Energy Industry.
Carbon fiber is mainly used in larger wind blades, which expect to gain
momentum in future. Epoxy and Polyester Resins are two leading resin
matrices used. Epoxy Resin proved as resin of choice and has gained a
major segment share.
India retained its position in top five world wind
energy markets in 2012. India remained third largest market for
new turbines in 2012 with capacity addition of 2441 mw, revealed World
Wind Energy Report 2012. World's wind turbine capacity addition grew at
19% to 44,609 mw, which is lowest in more than a decade. As per a Global
Wind Energy Council report on India, wind power is a mature and
scalable clean energy technology where India holds a domestic advantage.
India has an annual manufacturing capacity for over 9.5 GW of wind
turbines. The country is seeing about 3 GW in annual installations under
the 12th Plan target. This modest pace of utilization of the country’s
wind power manufacturing and resource potential so far is attributable
to several factors, including lack of an appropriate regulatory
framework to facilitate purchase of renewable energy from outside the
ost state, inadequate grid connectivity, high wheeling and open access
charges in some states, and delays in acquiring land and obtaining
statutory clearances. The broader global economic slowdown has reduced
expectations for the fiscal year 2012-13 from the wind sector, which is
still coping with the reduction of the Accelerated Depreciation benefit
from 80% to 35% in the first year of a wind turbine’s operation. Besides
these there are other potential barriers to achieving higher growth
rates in the short to medium term. Over the last decade the federal
government has offered three key incentives namely the Accelerated
Depreciation (AD), the Generation based Incentive (GbI) since 2009 and
the renewable energy Certificates (reC) mechanism since 2010. A
fundamental reason for the growth of wind sector had been the
availability of the AD benefit. With the quantum of this benefit reduced
under the current Plan (from 1st April 2012), the other federal scheme
called the GbI has now become a vital incentive for the wind sector.
Though likely to be revived in near future, at present the GbI is also
in abeyance. Inadequate grid infrastructure is another key issue that
needs to be addressed urgently. Across most of the states with
significant wind potential, the grid does not have sufficient spare
capacity to be able to evacuate ever-increasing amounts of wind power.
As a result, the state distribution utilities are reluctant to accept
more wind power generation and usually tend to prefer thermal power
generation. Thus, there is an urgent need to augment general grid
capacity. Also the regional southern grid needs to be connected with the
rest of the country on a real-time basis. This requires better
forecasting of power demand across the nation, and a modernization of
the grid. In most states, availability of land for wind farms is a
contentious issue. Even if private lands are available, conversion of
land use status from agricultural to nonagricultural is a time consuming
process. Further if the land is close to a protected area or
forestlands then obtaining clearance from forest authorities for using
the forestland for wind power generation is time consuming. Another
barrier to the growth of the wind sector is inordinately high borrowing
costs. In India, a significant majority of wind power projects are
conceived with a 70:30 debt-equity ratio as a project financing method.
The high interest rates (at present > 13%) make for some very
expensive debt under tough macroeconomic conditions. Further it would be
beneficial for the small and medium enterprises to have access to
concessional financing to bear the risks related to production capacity
augmentation, especially for component manufacturers. Lastly India’s
wind sector has tremendous job creation potential as the domestic
industry grows. There is likely to be higher demand for trained manpower
and accordingly, the technical training and academic curriculum across
the States may need to be modified.
Courtesy: http://www.plastemart.com