Siemens Ltd will invest nearly Rs 400 crore in the development of wind turbines in the country in the next two years, company officials said here.
Siemens will design and manufacture the equipment and make the expanded Vadodara facility operational by 2013 in the next phase of development, said Dr Armin Bruck, Managing Director, and Mr A.K. Dixit, CEO, Energy Cluster, Siemens Ltd, on the sidelines of a function in which the Gujarat Chief Minister, Mr Narendra Modi, inaugurated the second phase of steam turbine and compressor manufacturing facility at Vadodara.
This is part of the Rs 1,600-crore of investments in India over the next three years, announced in February 2010 by Mr Peter Loescher, President and CEO of Siemens AC, to set up six hubs of base level products in India.
Manufacturing facility for steam turbines larger than 45 MW, which was one of the six hubs, has now been established at Vadodara, and the other five hubs are under way. These products will cater to the mid- and low-end market segment constituting around 70 per cent of the total market in India. The company envisages production of some 60 products at Vadodara.
Of the Rs 1,600 crore, Siemens plans to invest around Rs 1,200 crore in Gujarat alone. On the two phases in Vadodara, it has invested Rs 575 crore so far, including Rs 300 crore in energy and healthcare sectors.
The expansion will double the capacity of the Vadodara facility to manufacture steam turbines from the existing 45 MW up to 150 MW, which in the next phases will be augmented up to 250-300 MW.
The smaller turbines up to 15 MW are sourced from this factory by Siemens AG to cater to Asia, Africa and Europe.
Mr Dixit said around 30 per cent of the installed generating capacity in India is currently from Siemens licensees. In the industrial sector as well, over 500 Siemens industrial steam turbines from Vadodara facility have been installed in the country.
“Now, with the ability to manufacture steam turbines up to 150 MW locally as well as with the compressor manufacturing and testing facilities commencing at this site, we will widen our portfolio in the oil and gas sector.”
Siemens Ltd, in which Siemens AG holds a 55.18 per cent stake, comprises 19 legal entities with 21 manufacturing plants in India, with a business volume of Rs 12,000 crore in 2009, expected to double in the next two years.
Responding to Mr Modi's claim that Siemens is “shifting” wind turbine manufacturing facility from China to Vadodara, the officials clarified that Siemens's China business is three times larger than in India. “We are now adopting a balanced growth approach and only the latest technology development in renewable energy will now be done at the Vadodara facility.”
They said Siemens Ltd's current contribution to the behemoth's global business is less than three per cent, as against China's eight per cent. Siemens India currently has an order book of Rs 12,400 crore, including Rs 7,700 crore from the oil and gas sector. Oil and gas sector account for about 15 per cent of the company's business.
Besides, Mr Dixit said, Siemens is making Gujarat a major service centre for turbines and compressors as a continuous business proposition. The company is, at present, providing technology via BHEL to power plants of up to 800 MW, based on super-critical technology.
It is also working on providing turnkey-basis solutions to the gas-based power plants to be set up at Dahej and Kutch in Gujarat.
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