Wind turbine manufacturer Vestas will unveil its India strategy at a customer meet in September, company sources have said.

Domestic players will keenly watch the move, as it will mark the ‘re-entry’ of the Denmark-based firm, the world’s largest wind turbine maker, into India.

Vestas is no stranger to India. When it stepped in in 1989, it was among the earlier entrants here. However, it practically quit India in 2012, after having sold machines worth 3 GW.

It technically re-entered India in 2014, but its operations have been on a low key. In 2015-16, not a single Vestas machine was installed in the country.

Back with a bang

But now, the company is back with a bang. It has bagged orders from two wind energy companies and installed 46 MW for one of them and 10 MW out of the other’s order for 40 MW.

Amar Variawa, Director - Marketing and Public Affairs, Vestas India, said the company is now “more serious about India” and has evolved a “very different strategy”, which will be announced by the company’s top honchos on September 13.

While not disclosing details, he indicated that Vestas will leverage its technological strengths to gain market share in India.

The company is putting up a blade plant in Gujarat, investing €65 million (₹485 crore), which will bring out India’s first locally-made carbon-fibre blades.

These blades, Variawa said, are stronger and lighter than the conventional glass-fibre blades by about 25 per cent. This –works out to about 2.5 tonnes a blade, or 7.5 tonnes lesser weight on top of the tower.

The machines that Vestas is selling today – the 2 MW, V 110 – are also carbon-fibre, but they are imported.

Making the blades locally will be cheaper and also save transportation costs, allowing Vestas to drop prices.

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