INSTITUTE OF INFRASTRUCTURE, TECHNOLOGY, RESEARCH AND MANAGEMENT POPULAR LECTURE SERIES (2014 – 15) Under the Popular Lecture Series, IITRAM, Ahmedabad invited Dr. Anil Kane President Emeritus, World Wind Energy Association (Bonn) and Former Vice Chancellor M. S. University of Baroda to present his expertise on the topic “Wind Energy- Its current status and new trends” He described the world energy scenario and stressed the importance of renewable energy sources of which wind energy is an important component. He explained how the geographical conditions decide the installation of windmills to generate electricity. Based on this, he gave the list of states in India which can invest in wind energy installations to meet their power requirements. He also explained the functioning and maintenance of the wind farm. It was interesting to get a glance at the modifications in design done in the modern windmills around the world to generate electricity from the wind energy. According to Dr. Kane windmill has the least operational cost as compared to any other power generation station like thermal or nuclear power station as only the cost required is of installation and the usual maintenance. The energy generated is totally free of cost. The power produced varies depending on the wind speed and also cannot be stored. It needs to be passed on. So, the power generated by the windmill has to be supplied to the government or private power grid. This process in known as Wheeling. The power when needed can be taken back by the wind farm owner. This is known as Banking. In his presentation he also discussed the different newer techniques used to generate power: like the concept of balloon wind plant which consists of a balloon with the turbine attached to it, and another concept known as the “Ladder mill” which consists of a series of rotor blades that rotate together to generate power etc. The presentation proved so inspiring to the students that at the end of the presentation they came up with variety of questions and innovative ideas. Dr. Kane happily answered their questions and appreciated the curiosity of the students. Students on their part were impressed by his expertise on the subject and his oratory power.