Siemens Energy is keeping all options open for its wind business in India, including “forging partnerships” or “maybe even exit,” Christian Bruch, President and CEO of Siemens Energy, said at a media conference in Munich on Wednesday. 

While stressing that India was a “market of strategic importance” for Siemens Energy because it is a growing market and because “a lot of skillsets are located in India, which we need for our global business,” Bruch said that as far as the wind business is concerned “we haven’t ruled out anything and anything is possible.” 

In response to a question on the Indian wind business, (represented by Siemens Gamesa Renewable Power Pvt Ltd.), Bruch said, “We have to bear in mind that we have a legacy fleet which needs servicing.” He also noted that the company had projects “that need to be taken care of” and “we stand behind our contractual commitments.” 

However, Siemens Energy is “looking at all the options to try and determine whether this (India) can be a successful market, given our current structure, whether we will have to forge partnerships or perhaps create entirely different scenarios, maybe even exit.” 

He added, “We will soon know what we are going to do.” 

Gamesa began its business in 2008 as the Indian arm of the Spanish wind major of the same name, which was taken over by Siemens Energy in June 2016. In April 2017, Siemens formally concluded the merger of its own wind business with Gamesa, to form Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy S.A.U. Now the process is on to merge this company with Siemens Energy, though the Indian arm is not a part of the merger plan as yet. In recent months, there have been reports in the media that a number of companies, including Adani Group, Inox and JSW are interested in taking over Siemens Gamesa Renewable India. 

Why sell Indian arm? 

Siemens Energy has not said why it might consider selling the Indian arm, but such a possible decision could be inferred from the fact that the company’s global wind business is making losses. In August 2023, the company said that it might end the financial year 2023 (ending September) with a loss of €4.5 billion, most of which could be attributed to the wind business. It got the German government to come up with a bailout package to provide a €7.5 billion backup for its performance guarantees to customers, worth Euro 11 b – a move that has attracted criticism from some quarters. 

The company has an installed capacity to manufacture 7 GW of wind turbines. It has a blade plant at Nellore, Andhra Pradesh, a nacelle plant at Mamandur near Chennai, and an operations and maintenance centre at Red Hills, Chennai. 

2024 a good year 

Bruch told the media today that 2024 was a good year for Siemens Energy, with the order book at €50 billion, primarily driven by grid and gas businesses. The company closed the year with a 13 per cent increase in revenues, at €34.5 billion and a profit before special items of €345 million. 

Bruch and Maria Ferraro, CFO of Siemens Energy explained the various steps taken by the company to contribute to the transition to green energy. All the gas power plants it would build would be capable of handling hydrogen instead of natural gas, thanks to a specially developed, 3D-printed burner. The company has developed technology for eco-friendly wind blades; from 2040, all the wind turbines it would make would be entirely from recycled materials, they said.