Battle of storms-2 : Wind energy sector an overview

Wind energy was one of the earliest renewable energy to come up in India .It started in early 1990’s in southern most state of India in Tamilnadu. From there it went on to increase its portfolio and later spread in Maharashtra and Gujarat. It not only attracted many investors because of its accelerated depreciation but also made textile giant manufacturer Tulasi Tanti to start a wind firm Suzlon ,which is now the fifth largest supplier of wind turbine in the world.

Vestas played an important role in supplying wind turbines in 1990’s and very few players were there in the market including suzlon which was founded in 1995.There were more investors attracted in building new wind farms because of its accelerated depreciation from which they earned more profits. Wind farms were success and there was nothing to pull its growth as Energy hungry India was planning to utilize its wind potential. State governments were supportive as it not only satisfied the energy needs but also created many jobs.

In 2000’s it reached the peak with India becoming the 5th largest wind power capacity in the world and by 2006 Indian wind turbine supplier Suzlon captured 7.7% of the market share in global wind turbine sales.

Glory days were then hit by recession and there were also many problems wind farms were facing regarding the maintenance. Wind power moved from a fringe source of power to one of the world’s fastest-growing sources of new electricity, scrutiny did increase along with that. The short-term outlook for renewable energy, especially wind power, was clouded by the credit crunch and the economic slowdown, turbine makers’ woes only fueled the flames.

Suzlon were hit badly due to recession and had severe cash flow problems which also made them to shut down their plant in Pondicherry and its losses piled up to 11000 crores. Suzlon got plenty of attention for its turbine troubles and it suffered from turbine breakdowns, cracked blades, and turbine underperformance that drove customers to cancel orders but it wasn’t entirely the only one . All turbine makers have at one time or another have wrestled with technical glitches in the complex machines.

Suzlon’s market share then decreased in India from 58% to 35% with new firms entering and capturing the market.Spanish wind turbine makers Gamesa was one of them which captured 10%.

Another big shock faced by wind turbine makers was the cancellation of accelerated depreciation(AD) and generation based incentives(GBI) in 2012.With the removal of the benefits, the wind sector in 2012-2013 saw investments falling to Rs.10,200 crores while in the preceding year, it was close to 19,000 crores.

The government change at the centre brought back the accelerated depreciation and GBI which made the wind farms to launch new plans and products . Gamesa inaugurated a new production facility at Chennai for its G114-2MW turbine last week. Suzlon launched world’s largest 120 m wind turbine this month, Tata power renewable energy announced that it is on talks to invest in wind firms soon. In addition to all these there are 3 new states identified on the India’s wind energy map .With all the above news its time to say that the wind firms is all set for the battle . For now let us gear up and watch the battle of storms which was not look like the 1990’s which looker more like monopolist market. The battle is getting more hotter ,stronger and windier.

India’s renewable energy share is increasing everyday with solar parks booming and WtE(waste to energy ) peeping up , wind energy sounds like the old war horse .Which would lead the battle in the renewable energy portfolio? Only time will tell.


Source:

indianrenewable.blogspot.in
Avinash Sridharan