Giant wind firm Suzlon has installed over 5GW of cumulative wind turbines in India, accounting for nearly half of the country’s total wind installations.
The cumulative wind generated power has the potential to light up four million homes annually, providing for over 1,500 customers in India across 40 sites in eight states.
The largest wind turbine manufacturer in India has installation base of over 1GW each in the key wind states of Gujarat, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.
Power from the installed wind turbines have also helped reduced about 8.5 million tonnes of harmful CO2 emissions each year, according to Suzlon.
India’s wind sector has seen respectable growth over the past years, putting its total installed capacity at 11.5GW as of July 2010, the world’s fifth biggest wind market.
The total estimated onshore wind power potential in India is over 48GW, according to the country’s ministry of new and renewable energy.
“In just over a decade, India’s wind market has grown from just around 50MW per year to nearly 2,000MW per year, and we at Suzlon are proud to have led this,” says Tulsi R Tanti, chairman and managing director of Suzlon.
Some of Suzlon’s customers include large corporations such as the Bajaj Group, Tata Group, Reliance Group, Indian Railways, Hindustan Petroleum Corp, Indian Oil, State Bank of India, amongst others.
Under India’s National Action Plan for Climate Change, the government has set a target to source 15% of electrical power from renewables by 2020.
“We have already secured one fourth of our target, and wind is the highest contributor at 70% of the country’s total grid connected renewable power capacity,” Tanti says.
Suzlon has been leading the wind energy market in India for the past 12 years with nearly 50% year-on-year market share.
The company employs 9,000 staff in India and runs eight manufacturing factories across the country.
