Sumant Sinha, COO – Suzlon Energy Limited, adds: “This is both an important order and important new market for Suzlon. Europe forms the largest market for wind energy, and we are focused on expanding our footprint in the market.”
Bulgaria seems to have very promising renewable development opportunities, and has, according to Suzlon 3400 MW mid-term potential for wind energy development. The Bulgarian government has also announced a generous feed-in tariff for wind energy and has set a maximum of 11% of gross energy consumption to come from renewable energy sources by 2010.
Suzlon, Tata Power gain on hopes of Australian power policy
Power companies, Suzlon and Tata Power have added on hopes of benefitting from Autralian policy. Both the companies have renewable energy projects in Australia.
Australia is planning to implement a law to ensure that 20% of its electricity comes from renewable sources by 2020. Suzlon is a wind-turbine maker and has been active in Australia since 2004. It accounts for 38% of the total installed wind power capacity in Australia.
Meanwhile, Tata Power forayed into geothermal energy by acquiring 10% stake in Australia’s Geodynamics for about Rs 165 crore, last year.
Suzlon Energy Ltd. reported a net loss of 4.53 billion rupees ($94.7 million) in the April-June quarter, swinging from a net profit of 93 million rupees in the same period last year amid lower sales and orders postponed by customers.
"Our sales volumes are lower, and fundamentally that has resulted in our operating costs not being fully accounted for," said Sumant Sinha, chief operating officer of the India-based wind-turbine maker.
He said India accounts for 30% to 35% of the company’s business excluding its REpower Systems AG arm, and some customers held back on making purchases in the fiscal first quarter ended in June because India’s budget was released in July.
The global financial crisis affected international sales as some customers from the U.S. and Europe postponed their orders, Mr. Sinha said.
Total quarterly income was 41.71 billion rupees, up 33% from 31.29 billion rupees a year earlier. Total costs increased 61% to 43.22 billion rupees from 26.89 billion rupees.
As of July 30, Suzlon’s orderbook was 83.16 billion rupees for 1,501 megawatts, and the company expects to end the year with an orderbook of 2,400 to 2,600 megawatts. Of the total orderbook, 600 megawatts is from the U.S., 600 from China, 130 from Australia and 120 from Europe.
"Our orderbook continues to show improvement, which gives us better visibility going forward," Mr. Sinha said.
Suzlon’s German REpower unit had a confirmed orderbook of 1,231 megawatts and a confirmed order volume of €1.45 billion, or about $2.07 billion, on June 30.
The group’s debt position is about 138 billion rupees excluding its recent equity issue and zero-coupon, convertible-bond sale amounting to about 10 billion rupees, Mr. Sinha said. "In addition, we’ve talked about sale of some of our assets, which will hopefully allow us to improve our debt position," he said.
Mr. Sinha said the company has achieved the technical criteria for wind-turbine blades to supply to REpower in China.
"The blade retrofit program has almost finished and should be completed in August," he said. "Whatever provisions we had made last year will be sufficient and we’ll not need to make more provisions."
REpower Apr-Jun 2009 net profit at 2.2 mn Euro
REpower, a subsidiary of Suzlon Energy and German wind turbine company, has announced its numbers for the period of April-June 2009. Its net profit stood at 2.2 million Euro and sales at 300.7 million Euro.
Suzlon to Supply Wind Turbines to Portugal, Spain
The company recently mentioned that it has entered into a pact with EUFER to supply wind turbines to Spain and Portugal. EUFER is a joint venture between Enel Green Energy and Spanish utility Union Fenosa.
Suzlon is expected to supply 2.1 MW turbines for wind farms totalling 224.5 MW. These turbines are installed during the next couple of years. Suzlon, in a related announcement, also said it was setting up a blade manufacturing unit in Andalusia, Spain.
Suzlon, an Indian-owned company, emerged on the global scene in the past decade, and by 2006 had captured almost 8 percent of market share in global wind turbine sales. Suzlon is currently the leading manufacturer of wind turbines for the Indian market, holding some 52.4 percent of market share in India. Suzlon’s success has made India the developing country leader in advanced wind turbine technology.
Indian company Suzlon, the world’s fifth largest turbine manufacturer, is now also well established in the international wind market beyond India, operating in 20 countries around the world and supplying turbines to projects in Asia, North and South America and Europe.
Suzlon Energy is a wind power company in India. In terms of market share, the company is the largest wind turbine manufacturer in Asia (and the fifth largest worldwide). In terms of net worth, it is the world’s most valuable wind power company. With headquarters in Pune, it has several manufacturing sites in India including Pondicherry, Daman, Bhuj and Gandhidham as well as in mainland China, Germany and Belgium. The company is listed on the National Stock Exchange of India and on the Bombay Stock Exchange.
Tulsi Tanti, a former textile manufacturer, with the help of some of his friends of Rajkot moved into wind energy production and founded Suzlon energy after facing increasing electricity costs. Suzlon is actively run by the Chairman and Managing Director, Tulsi Tanti since the initiation of the company. In late July 2008, Suzlon Energy appointed Rohit Modi as President – India Business. In 2003, Suzlon got its first sale in USA, with an order from DanMar & Associates to supply 24 turbines in southwestern Minnesota.
In India, the company has been the market leader for eight years consecutively, installing 53% of the capacity added in 2005. Suzlon offers customers total wind power solutions including consultancy, manufacturing, operations & maintenance services. Suzlon is a multinational company with offices, R&D and technology centers, manufacturing facilities and service support centers spread across the globe.
With the increasing demand and the advantage of being an end-to-end solution provider in its field of activity, Suzlon plans to increase its presence within India, and around the world. It already has a presenc in over 40 locations around the world – including Australia, China, Europe, India, New Zealand, South Korea, Spain and the USA.
Suzlon has design and R&D teams and facilities in Germany, India and The Netherlands to retrofit blades for clients. The international sales business of Suzlon is managed out of Aarhus, Denmark, while its global management office is in Amsterdam.Suzlon Rotor Corporation in 2006 began producing the blades in Pipestone, Minnesota in the United States. Among its clients is Wind Capital Group.
In the year 2006, Suzlon reached a definitive agreement for acquisition of Belgium firm Hansen Transmissions, specializing in gearboxes for wind turbines, for $565 million. In 2007, the company purchased a controlling stake in Germany’s REpower which valued the firm at US$ 1.6 billion. In June 2007, Suzlon had signed a contract with Edison Mission Energy (EME) of US for delivery of 150 wind turbines of 2.1 MW in 2008 and a similar volume to be delivered in 2009. EME had an option not to purchase the 150 turbines due to be delivered in 2009, which it has chosen to exercise.
