Wind Energy

Suzlon to set up wind power factory in Brazil

With a yearly capacity of 400 MW, this plant will produce 2 MW wind turbines. The cost of establishing this plant could be around $10 million.

Wind turbine-maker Suzlon Energy is setting up its first manufacturing facility in Brazil as part of its plan to focus on emerging economies, chairman & managing director Tulsi Tanti said.

“We should commission the facility in a year,” Tanti said during an earnings call with investors and analysts on Monday. Asked of the cost of setting up the plant, Tanti said it was still being worked out but could be about $10 million. The company is not adding any new capacity this fiscal.

Suzlon has so far serviced orders to the tune of 400 MW in Brazil, where it claims to be the wind farm market leader, by importing wind turbines from India.

Tanti noted that the current market size of the wind energy market in Brazil is about 1,000 MW. “There is an auction for a power purchase agreement of 1,800 MW later this month,” Tanti added.

With developed economies like the US and those in Europe still far from returning to the pre-downturn era, Suzlon is stepping up its play in markets like India, China, South Africa, Argentina, Chile and Mexico. “The size of the market in the US and Europe is shrinking but at the group level we won’t lose our market share in these countries,” Tanti said.

The Suzlon group order-book, which includes that of its German subsidiary Repower, is about Rs22,700 crore.

www.suzlon.com/