China’s Envision Energy plans to double its wind turbine production capacity in India and build a blade factory there to fulfil 2GW of orders in the country.
Envision said the expanded manufacturing capacity will underpin supply of 596 of its EN 156/3.3MW turbines – claimed to be the largest yet deployed in India – to an unnamed customer for multiple projects by the end of 2023.
The multi-gigawatt order level marks one of the biggest successes so far for a Chinese wind OEM outside its giant domestic market.
Envision will double output from its 1.2GW Pune nacelle and hub facilities, opened in 2018 at a cost of $25m, and open the blade plant by the end of Q1 next year, said a statement announcing the deal.
The new turbines will join 233MW at two existing projects installed by the manufacturer in India.
"With the growth of our wind and energy storage business, we are expecting to recruit more than 300 employees locally to meet the growing needs of the country as well as the newer markets of the Asia Pacific region," said RPV Prasad, country head for the Chinese group in India.
Envision is competing with some of the world’s largest wind power OEMs in India including Siemens Gamesa, Vestas, GE and Nordex, as well as local players such as Suzlon and Inox.
After a slump in installations linked to a panful transition to auctions and then by Covid, the Indian wind market is showing signs of picking up momentum.
India is pursuing some of the world’s most ambitious renewables goals with a 500GW goal for 2030, up from about 160GW now. The nation currently had 40GW of onshore wind in place by the end of 2021, according to Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) figures.
Envision was ranked number four on 2021's list of top wind turbine OEMs published by BloombergNEF with 8.46GW installed last year.
