Gamesa India will soon become the manufacturing hub for the 850-kW wind turbines for its Spanish parent.
The Indian subsidiary will also look to export the 850-kW turbines to North Africa and the UK. “We are working on it and we expect to sign an order soon,” says Mr Ramesh Kymal, Chairman and Managing Director, Gamesa India.
The 850-kW turbine, which Gamesa believes is a workhorse for it, is ideal for medium and low wind speed regimes. With Gamesa India having set up a manufacturing facility to make the turbines, the Spanish parent plans to stop making this class of turbines and concentrate on producing higher capacity turbines.
Gamesa India assembles and sells the 850 kW and 2 MW turbines in India. It has plants near Chennai and in Gujarat, to make the nacelles (the cone-like structure on a wind turbine that houses critical parts), blades and a joint venture to make the towers.
According to Mr Kymal, Gamesa India hopes to sell machines totalling about 750 MW this year, up from the 500 MW it sold last year.
New 2MW machine
Last month, the Spanish parent launched a new 2 MW machine, which it expects to begin manufacturing in 2014.
A press release on Gamesa's Web site says this machine is ideally suited for low wind speed regimes such as India.
It will have a higher swept area and promises more energy output than the existing 2 MW turbine.
Gamesa has said it will start making this turbine in all the markets where it has a plant. It is likely that this turbine will be launched in India too when it ready for global sales.