Chennai, Dec 6: The Centre has decided to bring mini-hydel power projects with a generating capacity of less than 25 mw under the Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy, Union Minister of State for Non-Conventional Energy M Kannappan said today.Speaking to mediapersons after inaugurating a seminar on the role of the Centre for Wind Energy Technology (C-WET) here today he said the decision taken recently to shift the mini-power projects from the Ministry of Power will help expand the Non-Conventional Energy Ministry's activities.Places to set up 6,000 mini-hydel projects, with an installed capacity of 10,000 mw have been identified, he said and added that most of these projects will be located in Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra.His Ministry was formulating a Renewable Energy policy for promoting exploitation of renewable sources of energy which will be announced during the next year's budget, the Minister said.Earlier, dedicating the C-WET set up here with the help ofDenmark Government, he appealed to the state government to allot a land for the construction of the C-WET and testing station in Pallikaranai near Chennai. (The testing station would extend all help in the area of research and development, wind resource assessment, develop and monitor performance).About 757 mw of the total wind power capacity in the country was from Tamil Nadu, mainly from Tirunelveli, Kanyakumari and Coimbatore districts. Muppandal near Kanyakumari has emerged the wind energy capital of the country.Complimenting the state on its performance in the area of bagasse co-generation (82 mw surplus power from 10 projects), he said the largest biomass power project in the country - the 12 mw project in Chengalpattu was also coming up. TN also led in the utilisation of solar energy.Also, a national institute for renewable energy was being established near Jallandhar.
