Suzlon to set up blade manufacturing facility in Spain

Suzlon Energy, which is facing technical issues with the blades of its wind turbine rotors, is planning to set up a new blade manufacturing facility at Andalusia in Spain. The company today said the facility is expected to be commissioned by 2010.

Eufer, a joint-venture between Enel Green Power and Spanish power utility Union Fenosa, will support Suzlon in the venture. A press release from Suzlon also said the company has signed an agreement with Eufer for setting up 224 mw wind power generation units at seven windfarms in Andalusia over a period of 2010-11. A Suzlon spokesperson declined to reveal further details of the project. Sources with Suzlon Energy said the new project was still at a 'very premature stage'.

Suzlon has blade manufacturing facilities at Pondicherry in Tamil Nadu, Daman, Padubidri near Mangalore, Tianjen in China and Pipestone near Minnesota in the US, with a combined capacity to cater to the current 4200 mega watt (MW) of production, sources said.

Suzlon Energy, excluding its subsidiaries Hansen and REpower, had orders for 1463 mw worth close to Rs 8,000 crore, as on last month.

Suzlon's troubles with blades began about one and a half year ago when some of its major clients in the US such as Deere and  Edison Mission Energy complained that cracks developed in the rotor blades supplied by Suzlon. The company confirmed this in January 2008 and wrote off Rs19 crore for the replacement of 34 blades of its 2.1 MW turbines installed in the US that developed cracks.

Later, Suzlon was forced to spend over Rs 500 crore to implement a retrofit and replacement programme to strengthen all V2 blades of S88-2.1 MW  turbines supplied by the company. Suzlon has allocated another $ 10 million to finish the blade retrofitting programme by August, this year.

Suzlon considers Eufer as a strategic partner in Andalusia towards the development of Suzlon’s ambitious industrial plan and market strategy, said Sumant Sinha, chief operating officer of Suzlon Energy. "The framework agreement with Eufor considers the possibility of increasing the number of wind farms, bringing EUFER and Suzlon together, for a long term relationship," he said.