The below was originally published in 2010.
The leading domestic company is Suzlon and is ranked sixth among world producers. In 2009, Suzlon had a 6.9% share of the global wind turbine market and in March 2010 had a 45% share of the domestic market.
In May 2007, Suzlon acquired a 33.6% stake in German manufacturer REpower for approximately EUR 1 billion. In December 2008 the company reached 73.71% holding in REpower through the acquisition of Portuguese group Martifer’s stake for EUR 65 million. Then in June 2009 the company extended its stake in REpower to take a controlling interest at 90.72% allowing Suzlon to transfer wind energy technology to India. In March 2011, Suzlon announced that it was going to start making REpower turbines at its Mangalore plant in India.
Currently Suzlon has a 95% stake in German turbine manufacturer, Repower. In April 2011, it announced plans to buy out the 5% stake of minority shareholders in REpower systems. Under German regulations, a shareholder with a 95% stake can initiate ‘squeeze-out’ allowing minority shareholders to exit.
Suzlon is also a full wind farm project developer and operator. Its varied services are offered by its associated company subsidiaries, which have also been established to cover specific regional markets. Suzlon’s wholly-owned subsidiaries include technological development centres in Germany and the Netherlands, a rotor blade manufacturing company (Suzlon Energy B.V) in the Netherlands, a US market subsidiary (SWECO), and an Australian market subsidiary (Suzlon Energy Australia Pty Limited). In August 2004, Suzlon Energy A/S, a wholly-owned subsidiary, was created to supervise Suzlon’s international marketing activities. A representative office in Beijing and manufacturing facility in Tianjin have also been set up in China to expand Suzlon’s presence in the Chinese market.
Suzlon has pioneered the concept of utility-scale wind farming in India and has created several of Asia’s largest wind farms. Suzlon is on the way to build the world’s largest wind farm in the in the Dhule district of Maharashtra state of India, which will have over 1,000 MW of installed wind turbine capacity when complete. The current installed capacity at Dhule is 650 MW. After an additional capacity of 450 MW is installed, the wind farm will reach a cumulative capacity of over 1000 MW. The company also supplied turbines to two of Asia’s largest wind farms: the 650 MW Kutch wind farm in Gujarat and the 650 MW Sankaneri wind farm in Tamil Nadu.
