Senvion will compete with former parent Suzlon in its home market

Suzlon which had recently divested its German owned subsidiary Senvion is now going to face competition from it, in its home market. The Indian wind market grew sharply last year, crossing the 3 GW annual figure and may grow to more than 4 GW in this fiscal year.  This has drawn the attraction of major foreign wind turbine makers, which are facing a slowdown in the developed markets of the West. China remains closed to most of the outside wind turbine companies because of stiff completion and implicit preference given to domestic companies over foreign ones. That leaves India as the only major country where these wind turbine generators can grow.

Senvion has bought Kenersys, which is owned by the Baba Kalyani group and has a medium presence in the Indian market. The Indian WTG market is dominated by the likes of Gamesa, Suzlon and Inox with other small players such as GE, Elecon, Shriram Lietner and others. Senvion is going to buy out both the wind turbine manufacturing facility, as well as the wind assets of Kenersys. The acquisition has been done to accelerate Senvion’s foothold in the Indian market.

Wind turbine market in India

Note the wind turbine market in India requires a low cost manufacturing base in order to be competitive and Kenersys’s manufacturing operations will allow Senvion to get access quickly to a manufacturing facility, which otherwise would have taken a long time to build. It also provides a good exit of the Kalyani group, which has not been very successful in the wind business despite almost 13 years of operations. It has never been a major wind player, with an upstart like Inox quickly taking over the No.3 position, despite starting operations just 3 years ago. The Kalyani group will also be focusing on the high growth defense industry, which would require both capital and management focus

Senvion is on a rebuilding phase after being sold by Suzlon to PE firm Centrebridge partners and is looking to raise funds by getting itself listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.

Besides Senvion, global wind turbine giant Vestas is also looking to infuse new life into its Indian operations, by setting up a manufacturing facility to make its low weight carbon fiber blades. Vestas has been present in India for a long time but has been a marginal player due to lack of cost competitiveness, as it imports wind turbines from abroad. Though Vestas is the global No.1 player in terms of wind turbine revenues (at least till Siemens and Gamesa consolidate WTG revenues), It has never been successful in the Indian market. But given the potential of the Indian wind energy market, Vestas is spending additional efforts in marketing and manufacturing. It recently bagged a small 46 MW WTG order and is now hunting for bigger deals.

The slow moving Indian WTG market is showing signs of life after being a moribund phase over the last 3-4 years due to a lack of growth. The WTG market is still slow as compared to the red hot solar market, which has been growing exponentially. The wind energy industry still faces headwinds from the declining prices of the solar panel market but even if it manages a run rate of 4 GW a year, then it will be good enough for the WTG players.