India's largest wind farm cluster is located in which state?

The Muppandal wind farm, in the Kanyakumari district at the southern tip of Tamil Nadu, is India's largest onshore wind farm cluster, with a total capacity of about 1,500 MW from many hundreds of wind turbines owned by different companies.

Why Muppandal is ideal:

It lies near the Aralvaimozhi pass, a gap in the southern end of the Western Ghats.

The winds of the south-west monsoon are funnelled through this gap, increasing their speed. The region also receives strong winds during the north-east monsoon.

As a result, the area gets strong and steady winds for much of the year.

The land is flat and dry, which makes it easy to install turbines.

Another windy area of Tamil Nadu is around the Palghat gap (Coimbatore and Tiruppur districts) and in Tirunelveli and Theni districts.

Tamil Nadu and wind energy:

• Tamil Nadu was a pioneer in wind power in India and for many years had the largest installed wind power capacity of any state.
• The National Institute of Wind Energy (NIWE), under the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, is located in Chennai.

Other large wind farms in India:

• Jaisalmer Wind Park in Rajasthan.
• Brahmanvel wind farm in the Dhule district of Maharashtra.

Wind energy in India:

• India has one of the largest installed wind power capacities in the world, after China, the USA and Germany.
• Most of India's wind potential is concentrated in a few windy states of the west and south.

Advantages and problems:

Wind energy is clean and renewable, but its output varies with weather and season. Wind farms need large areas of land and can affect birds.

Why not the other options?

• ✗Maharashtra has wind farms, such as at Brahmanvel, but not the largest cluster.
• ✗Madhya Pradesh has some wind capacity on the Malwa plateau.
• ✗Himachal Pradesh is mainly known for hydroelectric power.