BackSiva Ventures to invest Rs500 cr more in facility
Siva Ventures to invest Rs500 cr more in facility
PremiumGaining ground: The Suzlon Energy Ltd wind turbine facility in Aurangabad. India has an installed wind power capacity of about 9,000MW. Namas Bhojani / Bloomberg
Chennai: The C. Sivasankaran-owned Siva Ventures Ltd, which acquired Finnish wind turbine manufacturing firm WinWinD Oy in 2006, plans to invest an additional Rs500 crore in its Chennai wind turbine manufacturing facility over the next 12-18 months.
Siva Ventures was earlier called Sterling Group Infotech.
The proposed investment is in addition to the Rs375 crore that the firm had set aside for the unit coming up on a 65- acre facility on the outskirts the city.
Of that, Siva Ventures has already invested Rs200 crore.
The group, which has diverse interests including telecom, energy and real estate, expects to earn around Rs800-1,000 crore from the Chennai wind equipment manufacturing facility by the end of next fiscal.
“We are predominantly (an) asset-based company now. So, our revenues will pick up in the next two-three years. Once they are stabilized, I think we will have (group) revenues from wind as the maximum…followed by shipping," said V. Srinivasan, group chief executive officer and director of Siva Ventures.
Masdar, an Abu Dhabi-based renewable energy firm, in September picked up a significant minority (believed to be 40%, though the company would not confirm) stake in WinWinD for €120 million (Rs782.4 crore). Around 70-75% of the Rs500 crore investment would be funded by bank loans while Siva and Masdar would provide the rest.
The Chennai facility is not expected to contribute to the revenues this fiscal but the European operations of WinWinD are expected to have revenues of around €100 million by the end of 2008.
According to Srinivasan, India has an installed capacity of around 9,000MW of wind power with 1,500-2,000MW of installation happening every year. Tamil Nadu accounts for almost half of India’s wind power.
The manufacturing facility, which will be operational in a few days, is expected to produce eight nacelles a day, amounting to approximately 2,400 nacelles per annum, once it is complete.
The nacelle refers to the structure that houses all the generating components, such as the gearbox, in a wind turbine.
The group is also planning to export turbines to Europe, North Africa, West Asia and Sri Lanka at a later stage and it would look for local partners for installation purposes in the various geographical locations.
Unlock a world of Benefits! From insightful newsletters to real-time stock tracking, breaking news and a personalized newsfeed – it's all here, just a click away! Login Now!
