Himalayan News Service

New Delhi, May 15:

Wind power major Vestas RRB India Ltd aims to add 210-240 MW generation capacity this year to double its turnover from Rs 5.8 billion Indian Currency (IC) to Rs 10 billion IC.

“With 1,111 MW capacity addition last year, India not only recorded the highest addition of power generation from wind in one year but also helped reach the fourth position globally overtaking Denmark,” said Rakesh Bakshi, managing director of Vestas RRB India, an Indo-Danish joint venture.

Germany continues to be the leader in wind energy with 17,000 MW installed capacity, followed by the US and Spain with around 8,000 MW each. India with about 3,600 MW is now in fourth place ahead of Denmark with 3,500 MW capacity, which interestingly constitutes 22 per cent of the country’s energy mix. Despite an estimated potential of about 45,000 MW, India has been able to harness only 3,595 MW. “But what is encouraging is that most of the capacity within the country has been created through private investment. This year we are aiming to add another 210-240 MW capacity,” Bakshi, a pioneer in renewable energy sources, said.

“By choice we have decided to grow in a structured manner with more focus on after sales services like maintenance. This year we hope to reach a turnover of Rs 10 billion IC, nearly double of Rs 5.8 billion IC turnover in 2004-05,” he said.

The growth of the wind energy sector is reflected in the growth of Vestas, which has about 60 per cent market share with a total installed capacity of 1,900 MW. The company is into manufacture of mid-size wind turbines of 500-600 KW capacity.

With 350 plus clients, including several industries, seeking captive power installation through wind energy, Vestas this year plans to install about 40 MW wind energy capacity in Rajasthan, about 30-40 MW in Maharashtra, 40-50 MW in Karnataka and about 70 MW in Tamil Nadu. It is likely to start work in Gujarat next year. Tamil Nadu currently leads among the states with highest wind energy production and supply to the national power grid.

Seeing more investor confidence in India’s proven technology prowess in the field of wind energy, Bakshi is confident that this year India would see a capacity addition of about 1,500 MW up from 1,111 MW last year.