One of India’s leading integrated wind energy companies, Suzlon Energy, has just commissioned a new manufacturing facility for wind turbine blades.
The new facility is located in the state of Madhya Pradesh and shall produce blades for the company’s new turbine – S111 2.1 MW. The unit is spread across 19 acres and has an annual production capacity of 400 MW.
The S111 2.1 MW turbines are designed specifically to boost power generation at low wind speed sites. With a blade diameter of 54.8 meters it is the largest rotor diameter wind turbine available in India.
Suzlon Energy already operates 14 manufacturing facilities across India, including 7 blade manufacturing units.
The new manufacturing facility come online with just 4 months to go for the government to significantly reduce the financial incentives like accelerated depreciation and generation-based incentives for the renewable energy sector. These two incentives have been the driving force behind the sharp increase in wind energy capacity addition in the country over the last few years.
The new facility suggests that Suzlon Energy is quite optimistic about the government’s announcement to introduce competitive auctions in the wind energy sector. This would reduce the landed cost of power generated from wind projects, which is now at a premium to solar power tariffs in some states.