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Vestas India has installed base of +2.2 GW to date, what are your future targets?
India has come a long way in renewable energy space especially in wind energy with around 37 GW installation to date. Also, the central government’s ambitious target of 450 GW renewable energy, including 140 GW wind, until 2030 makes India a prominent place to be for all renewable energy OEM’s.
To date, Vestas has 2.9GW of the installed base in India which accounts for around 8% of total wind installation in India. After migration from the Feed-in Tariff (FiT) regime to Reverse Auction in Wind-Solar projects, customers prefer global financially stable OEMs.
Our objective remains to be one of the leading sustainable energy solutions providers in the region. With this aim, our focus is to bring world-class technology, generate local employment in India.
Wind sector growth has been slow recently. What according to you is the future growth of wind sector in India?
Currently, the sector is facing migratory issues from the feed-in tariff (FiT) to auction regime. One of the main differences is, during FiT, State Governments were the ones allocating Land whereas in Auction regime Wind Park Developers must get all the land-related permits. This has resulted in a delay in permissions/approvals and further delays in project execution. After facing these initial bumps, thanks to the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) the processes have been streamlined and, in our opinion, major issues will be resolved by 2020. We are confident that the sector will gain momentum thereafter. Also, with the increased demand for electricity consumption and the decision to decrease coal dependability by the government, I think India has the potential to become the worlds’ third-largest renewable energy market soon.
What technological breakthroughs can we expect from your company in the coming years?
Vestas is the energy industry’s global partner on sustainable energy solutions. We continuously work towards evolving the technology so that our products deliver a high level of robustness and performance suitable for all wind markets including low wind regime markets. We had introduced the new platform called EnventusTM in 2019 which is a modular platform across our 2MW, 4MW, and 9MW turbine range.
Please let us know how has Vestas has contributed to the Indian market?
Vestas has been in India since 2006, delivering ‘sustainable energy solutions’ to help customers tap into the potential of a vast resource. With the complete value chain, starting from world-leading manufacturing facilities for Nacelle, Hub, and blades, innovative R&D center (largest outside Denmark), and fully efficient team across functional and support departments, we are completely equipped to provide cutting edge technology, optimal service, and localized products to our customers.
Vestas recently announced the expansion of the current Nacelle and hub assembly factory in Chennai, we also have a large blade manufacturing unit in Ahmedabad and a blade supply agreement with TPI composites. These facilities will serve the growing needs of the wind market in the region. It will also act as a strategic export hub leveraging Vestas’ global reach to make India renewable energy manufacturing hub.
In total, Vestas currently employs around 3400 people in India which corresponds to around 12% of Vestas’ global employment. Other than our core business, here at Vestas India, we are constantly in close engagement with the local communities around our factories and remote projects through a series of ongoing Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives.
