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Wind resource grading & plant load factor
What it is
Wind sites are graded by resource quality, and Class I sites with the highest mean wind speed deliver materially higher plant load factors. The best Indian sites were taken first, so new capacity increasingly goes to lower-grade locations
Modern taller turbines with larger rotors partly offset this by capturing better wind at height
Impact on industries
- Resource degradation is structural - each successive tranche of capacity is built on poorer wind, so average PLF falls unless technology compensates
- Taller towers and larger rotors have raised achievable PLF substantially, opening sites previously considered uneconomic
- Lower PLF worsens the economics of intermittency, since the same evacuation and land cost supports less energy
- This is precisely why repowering matters - the highest-quality sites are occupied by the least capable machines