Muppandal

Muppandal is a small village on the southern tip of India in Kanyakumari District, in the state of Tamil Nadu. It is located in a hilly region where wind from the Arabian Sea gusts through mountain passes.[1]

Muppandal

Aralvoimozhi
Village
Nickname(s): 
Aramboli
Country India
StateTamil Nadu
DistrictKanyakumari district
Languages
 • OfficialTamil
Time zoneUTC+5:30 (IST)

There is a legend that Avvaiyar had arranged for a marriage, to which she invited the sovereigns of the Chera, Chola and Pandya kingdoms. This is located in between Tirunelveli and Kanyakumari Highway (NH), the nearest college from muppandal is Jayamatha Engineering College The kings erected pandals (mandapams) in the respective places allotted to them and this eventually led to the place being called Muppandal (meaning 'three pandals').

Wind power
Aralvaimozhi railway station with a view of wind farm

The once-impoverished village benefited from the building of the nearby Muppandal Wind Farm, a renewable energy source, which supplies the villagers with electricity for work.[2][3] This is the second largest onshore wind farm in the world. The village had been selected as the showcase for India's $2 billion clean energy program which provides foreign companies with tax breaks for establishing fields of wind turbines in the area. Coordinates - [8°15'39"N 77°32'55"E]. Now huge power-producing windmills tower over the palm trees. The village has attracted wind energy producing companies creating thousands of new jobs, dramatically raising the incomes of villagers.[1]

The suitability of Muppandal as a site for wind farms stems from its geographical location as it has access to the seasonal monsoon winds.[2]

Now there are more sites identified for windmills around this area (Muppandal and surroundings) and wind energy generation capacity is estimated to be around 1500 MW, which is about 20% of that of India. [4]

Shrine

In Muppandal, there is an image of Avvaiyar in the temple dedicated to the poet. According to tradition, this is the spot where she died.[5]

See also

Notes
  1. "Wind power boosts Southern Indian economy". Aljazeera.net. 2 November 2003. Retrieved 28 October 2006.
  2. "Tapping the Wind - India". February 2005. Archived from the original on 21 February 2007. Retrieved 28 October 2006.
  3. Watts, Himangshu (11 November 2003). "Clean Energy Brings Windfall to Indian Village". Reuters News Service. Retrieved 28 October 2006.
  4. Watts, Tamil Nadu (23 August 2007). "Massive Wind Turbine Generator". Reuters News Service. Retrieved 23 August 2007.
  5. Padmanabhan, S. (5 November 2004). "Shrine for the Tamil poetess". The Hindu. Retrieved 19 February 2019.

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