Revision summary
NIWE maps strong onshore wind in Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Andhra Pradesh. Offshore potential is large but still little built. Turbines stay clustered because wind density, land, forests, and evacuation are uneven. Early policy and substations locked in those corridors. Hybrids and offshore can widen the map; they cannot put a farm in every district.
Model answer
Introduction
India has a large wind resource on western and southern corridors, mapped by the National Institute of Wind Energy. Installed capacity is serious, yet turbines cluster in a few states because wind, land, and the grid do not spread evenly.
Body
Potential
- NIWE’s wind atlas shows strong winds along Tamil Nadu’s Palghat gap, Gujarat’s coast and Kachchh, interior Karnataka, western Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Andhra Pradesh.
- Onshore potential is the present workhorse; offshore estimates for Gujarat and Tamil Nadu are large but still early in deployment.
- Wind matches evening and monsoon pulses in some belts, which can complement solar’s daytime peak if the grid can take both.
- Manufacturing and a long private-sector history since the 1990s make wind a mature Indian renewable, not a pilot toy.
Why spatial spread is limited
- Mean wind power density is high only in corridors; the eastern plains, interior north, and much of the north-east are weak for utility turbines.
- Land for large rotors is scarce near cities, and forest or agricultural objection blocks many otherwise windy ridges.
- Grid evacuation, until recent green corridors, lagged in new districts, so developers stayed where substations and old farms already existed, as at Muppandal.
- Intermittency needs balancing power and forecasting; weaker state utilities hesitated to add remote wind.
- Policy and renewable purchase history favoured early movers such as Tamil Nadu and Gujarat, which locked in a clustered map.
Way forward for spread
- Hybrid wind–solar parks, better forecasting, and offshore pilots can widen the map without pretending every district is Denmark.
Flow diagram
flowchart TD A[NIWE wind atlas] --> C[TN Gujarat KA MH RJ AP] W[Weak inland east] --> L[Limited spread] G[Grid land forest] --> L C --> P[Clustered capacity] P --> L
Conclusion
India’s wind potential is real on western-southern corridors and in offshore estimates. Limited spatial spread follows the wind itself, land and forest limits, and a grid that grew around the first farms rather than around every state equally.
Quick related
Students also ask
-
Explore and evaluate the impact of 'Work From Home' on family relationships.
Next question in the 2022 paper (Q8). View answer →
-
Is wind potential low in India?
No. It is high in defined corridors. The question is spread, not the existence of a resource.
-
Why not put turbines everywhere like solar?
Solar needs sun, which is wide. Utility wind needs a mean speed and a clear fetch that most inland districts lack.
PYQ trend
When UPSC asked this
Related PYQs from other years, newest first. Open a question to read it.
-
2022 · Q4 · GS I · 10 marks
Describe the characteristics and types of primary rocks. -
2022 · Q11 · GS I · 15 marks
The political and administrative reorganization of states and territories has been a continuous ongoing process since the mid-nineteenth century. Discuss with examples. -
2022 · Q15 · GS I · 15 marks
Describing the distribution of rubber producing countries, indicate the major environmental issues faced by them. -
2022 · Q16 · GS I · 15 marks
Mention the significance of straits and isthmus in international trade. -
2022 · Q17 · GS I · 15 marks
Troposphere is a very significant atmospheric layer that determines weather processes. How? -
2021 · Q2 · GS I · 10 marks
Trace the rise and growth of socio-religious reform movements with special reference to Young Bengal and Brahmo Samaj. -
2021 · Q8 · GS I · 10 marks
Why is India considered as a sub-continent? Elaborate your answer. -
2021 · Q14 · GS I · 15 marks
Briefly mention the alignment of major mountain ranges of the world and explain their impact on local weather conditions, with examples.
More from this paper
Q1 · UPSC Mains 2022 · GS I · 10 marks
How will you explain the medieval Indian temple sculptures represent the social life of those days?
Indian Heritage and Culture
Medieval temples carved daily work, music, war, and household scenes beside the gods. Khajuraho, Konark, Hoysala, and Chola walls show rank, craft, and kama as public facts. Women, dancers, and donors appear as social actors, not only as ornaments. The stone favours elite donors, so it is a partial census. Inscriptions must sit beside the panels for a full social reading.
Q2 · UPSC Mains 2022 · GS I · 10 marks
Why did the armies of the British East India Company - mostly comprising of Indian soldiers - win consistently against the more numerous and better equipped armies of the Indian rulers? Give reasons.
Modern Indian History
Sepoys were the mass of Company armies; drill, volley fire, and artillery were the edge. A single officer chain beat coalition hosts of jagirdars. Subsidiary Alliance and succession politics shrank independent Indian armies. Coastal supply and Indian credit paid campaigns as a system. Numerous Indian hosts lost when they could not combine command and treasury.
Q3 · UPSC Mains 2022 · GS I · 10 marks
Why was there a sudden spurt in famines in colonial India since the mid-eighteenth century? Give reasons.
Modern Indian History
Company rule after the mid-eighteenth century raised cash revenue just as drought hit Bengal in 1770. Settlements and cash crops left peasants paying rupees after a failed harvest. Older tax remission and local stores weakened, while grain followed price to the port. Nineteenth-century famines and Bengal 1943 showed policy and entitlement failure, not climate alone. Railways moved grain; they did not create a right to eat.
Toppers' copies
Toppers' copies for this question will be uploaded soon.