Wind turbine maker Senvion India plans to have 10 % of installed wind energy capacity in the country in the next three years from around nearly 2% now.
“Senvion has around one GW of India’s 47 gigawatt (GW) installed wind energy capacity, accounting for 2.1% of the total installed capacity, and we plan to add another 1 GW by the end of the next financial year,” said Amit Kansal, CEO and MD, Senvion India.
This financial year, India may install between 4 and 5 GW, and Senvion will be close to 600-700 MW, about 15% of the installed capacity, he said.
The country aims to build 509 GW of renewables by 2030, including 110 GW of wind, but current installation rates fall short. In 2023, India added only 2.8 GW of wind capacity, far below the required annual addition of 9.3 GW from 2024-2030, reports said.
Though according to advisory and consulting firm MEC+, Senvion has 3% of the total wind order book, Kansal said it should be more than 3%. Of the 19.2 GW total wind order book, Envision has the highest share of order book at 41%, Suzlon has second highest with a share of 20% and Inox Wind holds 17% as of Q2 of 2024.
“We as a principle do not announce any conditional orders, but we only announce firm orders where the money is in the bank and the LC is opened,” Kansal said. LC or letter of credit guarantees buyer’s payment to seller. He said the order book number changes very quickly once the customers meet their conditions precedent (CPs).
He said Senvion is the first company to launch a 4.2 MW turbine for the country in September. “What you need in India is a bigger rotor, bigger blade and a lower megawatt. A 4-4.5 MW turbine has become a necessity because of lack of land. Land is becoming very expensive in India. And good wind land is becoming even more scarce. So, a turbine of 4 MW or so with a 160 and 70 metre rotor looks like a niche product engineering wise. After a lot of research and understanding of Indian condition we have come out with this product,” he said
The turbines will be made in India and for India, he said.
Its rival Envision Energy unveiled a 5 MW onshore platform for India in Wind Energy Hamburg 2024 recently.
Kansal said with the launch of new turbine, they will double the capacity to 2 GW by 2026 and start exploring the wind turbines to overseas markets when the 4.2 MW wind turbine is commercialised in 2026. It will expand capacity in plants in Baramati in Maharashtra, Trichy In Tamil Nadu along with Baroda in Gujarat, he said.
In 2020, German turbine maker Senvion GmbH sold Indian arm to an investor.