To equip itself with proper wind power evacuation infrastructure, the Tamil Nadu government plans to take up projects with a total cost of Rs 5,998 crore.  For this, the State Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa has urged the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to intervene in the matter and release Rs 1,500 crore from the National Clean Energy Fund (NCEF) to the state.    

The Chief Minister has written to the PM in this regard. She said, the main issue which prevented the state from reaping full benefits of installed wind capacity was the lack of adequate power evacuation infrastructure. Due to lack of the evacuation infrastructure in the state, power generated has become expensive, said Jayalalithaa.    

Jayalalithaa said the NCEF supported such projects and it was on this basis the Tamil Nadu Transmission Corporation submitted these projects developed in close co-ordination with the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, for the creation of power evacuation infrastructure, exclusively for wind power.    

The Ministry of New & Renewable Energy, after consulting Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd and Central Electricity Authority, validated two of the three proposals at a total cost of Rs 3,758 crore and recommended approval of a grant of Rs 1,500 crore for these projects from the NCEF, she said in her letter.