Siemens to invest Rs.400 crore on wind turbines in India

VADODARA - Engineering major Siemens Ltd plans to invest Rs.400 crore ($87 million) on the development of wind turbines in the country over the next two years, said a top company official here Tuesday.

Speaking on the sidelines of a function after Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the second phase of the steam turbine and compressor manufacturing plant here, A.K. Dixit, CEO Energy cluster of the company, said the designing and manufacture of this equipment would be done in the country and the manufacture would start by 2013.

“Though the location is yet to be finalized, we propose to set it up in Gujarat and are talking to the state government in this regard,” he added.

Earlier, talking to mediapersons Armin Bruck, managing director of the company, said the company would be investing Rs.1,600 crore ($348 million) in India over the next three years to set up six hubs of base level products in India.

“The company will now be able to manufacture steam turbines upto 150 MW and manufacture and package process compressors for domestic as well as other emerging markets,” he added. These products, about 60 of them produced at Vadodara, will be constituting around 70 percent of the total market in India.

Dixit said of the Rs.1,600 crore investment planned in India, about Rs.1,200 crore was in Gujarat alone. “This expansion will double the capacity of the Vadodara facility to manufacture steam turbines from the existing 45 MW up to 150 MW. This will be raised to 250-300 MW subsequently,” he added.

The smaller turbines up to 15 MW are sourced from this factory by Siemens AG to cater to Asia, Africa and Europe.

He pointed out that around 30 percent of the installed generating capacity in India is currently from Siemens licencees. “Over 500 Siemens steam turbines from the facility here have been installed in various parts of the country,” he added.

Earlier, after inaugurating the second phase of the steam turbine and compressor facility here, Chief Minister Modi said he was happy to know that the company had chosen to look away from China and towards Gujarat in the expansion of their wind turbine manufacturing.

Clarifying, Dixit said the company’s China business was much larger than in India. “The latest technology development in renewable energy will now be done at the Vadodara facility,” he added.

He also observed that the company was making Gujarat a major service centre for turbines and compressors. “We are working on providing turnkey-basis solutions to gas-based power plants to be set up at Dahej and Kutch in Gujarat,” he added.

Siemens Ltd, in which Siemens AG holds a 55.18 percent stake, comprises 19 legal entities with 21 manufacturing plants in India. With a business volume of Rs.12,000 crore in 2009, the company expects to double the figure in the next two years.