The Muppandal Wind Farms, Tamil Nadu

The best part of any road trip is, that we gets to see the least expected views making us pause, to admire the scenes at our own pace. The usual monotonous drive can suddenly become completely different and exhilarating. At times an usual water body or the setting sun creates the most picturesque hues. The glimpses of such brief moments stay etched longer in our memories than the destination itself.   

One such awestruck moments while traveling on the Tirunelveli - Kanniyakumari highways are the rows and rows of wind turbines at Muppandal wind farms. Little did we expect the towering white wind turbines to travel with us for miles, which are spread across villages of Valliyur to Anjugrammam. Thousands of windmills, dot both sides of the highway all spinning with the winds blown from the seas which is 30-40km away. The sheer expanse of this project against the ghats, as far as eyes see is a sight to behold.  

The lush green ghats on either sides of the roads contrasting with stark white windmills makes one stop to just absorb the abundance of resources nature has given us to use. This breathtaking landscape is rightfully called as "The Netherlands of India" by the locals. 

The huge blades and cylindrical drums we see on the 18 wheeler vehicles chugging on these highways, all seem to make sense, as we realise that they were heading to this destination - the Muppandal wind farms. 

The hilly terrains of Muppandal, makes it an ideal place for the wind from the Arabian Sea to gust through mountain passes to produce wind energy. Most of the windmills of this wind farm are located along the Aralvaimozhi pass which are topographically suited for the wind flow. 
Tamil Nadu has been the leading producer of this renewable green energy in India for the past few decades. It accounts for around 50% of the wind power generated in the country. The Muppandal wind farms are developed by the state-owned, TN Energy Development Agency and is country's largest operational onshore wind farms. 

Scattered across the villages of Kanyakumari -Tirunelveli the wind mills have not only changed the livelihood of the locals, but have also added to the scenic visual delight to the passers-by. 

A note on Kayathar

Kayathar wind farms are located in the wind-rich land of Thoothukodi, between Kovilpatti and Tirunelveli and is the country 's pioneer region where windmills were first installed. This project was commissioned in 1990s with wind turbines, each of 200-kilowatt capacity. Slowly many villages around this belt started converting their agricultural lands to wind farm as it was lucrative and agriculture was taking a back step amongst the youth. 

Many of these turbines, are nearing the end of  its lifecycle of 20/25 years. Generally, a wind turbine generators at the end of service life exhibit high breakdown and require repairs. Maintenance of these wind turbines have become difficult due to the shortage of replacement parts and technological advancements.  Many proposals to repower these turbines have been constantly faced with obstacles as repowering is not only a costly affair, but also requires more land, wider roads, consent of all turbine owners in joint projects and indigenous manufacturing capabilities. All these factors have stalled this green energy project at Kayathar wind farms... 

... and we cont.. our journey crossing these turbines of Kayathar which stand lifeless hoping for better days to come...