Identifying India as a strategic market, wind turbine maker Vestas on Friday inaugurated its new office in New Delhi.(Image: IE)
Identifying India as a strategic market, wind turbine maker Vestas on Friday inaugurated its new office in New Delhi. The move comes after the Denmark-based company recently set up a business sales unit for the Asia-Pacific to address the Indian market more directly. The company has a 200 MW blade making plant in Gujarat. The company’s president for the Asia-Pacific region, Clive Turton, said: “Opening of Delhi office is an important milestone for Vestas India to demonstrate our progress in the market despite some short-term uncertainty.” The wind power sector has recently been facing a number of challenges, with several states wanting to cut tariffs which they agreed to pay independent power producers before rates fell to Rs 3.46/unit at the first, and till date, the only reverse auction for wind-based electricity. The second such auction for 1,000 MW is expected on October 4.
Vestas has delivered more than 4,500 turbines in India, with a total capacity of more than 3,000 MW. The company employs more than 2,000 people in India. It is also expanding the manufacturing capacity of the Gujarat plant to 600 MW. Earlier this week, France-based utility giant Engie partnered with Dubai-based Abraaj Group to build over 1,000 MW of wind power projects in India. These will require estimated investment of about Rs 6,000 crore. In order to achieve the target of 60,000 MW of wind energy by 2022, the country needs to add more than 6,000 MW of wind generation capacity annually on an average. Currently, the wind capacity in the country is about 32,500 MW.
