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December 2, 2010

Siemens to invest $87mn for 250MW wind turbine development in India

Siemens Ltd., started off it’s renewable energy segment, in India by setting up an office in Vadodara, Gujarat to further expand the business. The renewable energy division already had 30 employees on board and the company had announced that they would ramp up the number of employees to 100 within one year. “The market outlook for renewable energies in India is extremely positive and we see huge potential for the wind and solar business in the near future”, said Dr. Armin Bruck, Managing Director, Siemens Ltd. “ Setting up of the Vadodara office marks our foray into the Solar & wind business in India and with this initiative, we will be able to strengthen our activities in this important market,” he further added, according to this release from the company in September this year.

Initially, Siemens had identified sites in the states of Tamil Nadu and Gujarat for setting up their manufacturing base and was expected to start operation by 2012 with an initial capacity aggregating to 200MW.

In a later announcement a couple of months back, Siemens Ltd, the flagship listed company of Siemens AG in India, announced plans to invest €70 million (Rs 430 crore) in the first phase for the Baroda project, to set up a 250 Mw manufacturing capacity.

According to a report in the media today,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.

Siemens, is a late entrant into the wind energy space in India where Suzlon and Vestas have been leaders in the market.  The wind energy space is crowded with about nine manufactures having wind turbine models possessing valid type approval and certificate for sale in India. Further, there are about half a dozen models under testing and certification process. Panchabuta, will keep readers updated on the progress of Siemens as it enters the wind space.

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