Suzlon Doubles Down on Core Biz With Wind 2.0, Plans Expansion Into Other Areas With Suzlon 2.0

When windmills first came up in India, people used to make fun of them, saying such huge 'fans' will guzzle power rather than making it, and now India is capable of meeting 10 per cent of the global wind energy demand through exports, its pioneer in India Suzlon Energy's Vice Chairman Girish Tanti has said.

Suzlon itself has come a long way in its 30 years of existence and is now geared for its next phase of evolution with its Wind 2.0 and Suzlon 2.0 initiatives for expansion within and beyond the wind power generation business, the company's founding member said.

The company prides itself as one of the only five global players in the wind energy space to have survived in the business, the other four being GE of the US, and Siemens, Vestas and Nordex from Europe, he said, while underlining that Suzlon is the only one from the Global South.

Speaking to PTI during the Annual Meeting, Tanti said this 30-year journey has been quite rewarding, especially when it started from a point when wind energy was not at all seen as being viable.

Nearly 50 per cent of India's energy requirement is now met from renewables and the country is on track to achieve the target of being 100 per cent carbon neutral by 2070, he said.

Recalling the early days of Suzlon commencing business, Tanti said people used to ask why those windmills were being installed since they would consume a large amount of power.

Now, one single turbine can generate almost one crore units per year, which means that one turbine is enough to power an entire village, he added.

There are more than 2,500 MSMEs working with us across the value chain and India now has a potential of almost meeting 10% of global wind demand via export, he said.

On the group's expansion plans, he said Wind 2.0 is redefining the approach to the wind business, with different elements being added to it, including product development as a separate division, EPC and services businesses.

These would be complemented with a digital transformation, value delivery to customers and safety at the workplace, he added.

He further said all companies are now looking to become self-sufficient in energy and it's a very critical component for growth for India too as it will be to keep up with our GDP growth.

At the same time, expanding GDP ten times by 2047 would mean that the energy demand will also rise 10 times and there would also be a huge growth in the size of our middle class, which is likely to double in that period leading to a further surge in energy demand, Tanti said.

Since we are already importing a huge portion of our energy requirement, all of this creates an energy security risk, he said.

That puts pressure on foreign exchange, while the conventional energy modes also involve climate and carbon costs, he said.

But, the progress we have made on solar, wind and now storage technologies in recent years has solved the problem that was holding back full-scale adoption of renewable energy.

"It is no longer the case that solar or wind energy would be available only when the sun is shining or wind is blowing, while the cost is now less than any conventional source of energy," he said, while asserting that renewables can make us self-sufficient in energy space.

And we have so far used just 4 % land of India that can be utilised for wind power generation, he said.

Asked about the irony of electric vehicles also being charged with power generated from fossil fuel, he said it is a matter of intention. "Today, if you want your EV chargers to be 100% green, it is possible and it's viable," he said.

On the AI boom and the huge power consumption by data centres, he said most of the new data centres being planned in India are going to be green from day one.

"We are working with all the state governments on the grid and the power which is required to fuel these data centres for building green corridors.

Simply speaking, consumption by ChatGPT is ten times higher than that by Google for the same search but the outcome is different too," he said.

"I can say that 100% of AI power requirement, whatever is coming in India, can be met from renewable energy. And it can be 24x7 stable electricity at a price point which is equal to or better than any other source," he asserted