Adani order puts wind in Inox sails
MUMBAI, AUG 30:
Inox Wind Ltd, one of India’s largest wind power equipment makers, has won an order to supply wind turbine generators to a unit of Adani Group for its 100-MW project in Kutch, Gujarat, helping the company stay afloat in a difficult market.
The order involves supply of 50 units of 2MW wind turbine generators of 120 meters hub height and 113 rotor diameter over the next six-nine months, Inox Wind said in an announcement to the exchanges.
Inox Wind will develop and commission the project as well as provide long-term operation and maintenance services.
Adani Green Energy, the renewable unit of Adani Group, won the project under the first round of Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) bids for wind projects connected to the Central grid. The PPA for the wind farm has been signed for a fixed tariff of ₹3.46 a unit for 25 years.
New phase
According to Kailash Tarachandani, CEO of Inox Wind, the company is hoping to benefit from the auction-based market regime that was recently introduced in the wind sector (as against feed-in-tariff regime) due to its cost-competitive advantage.
“The upcoming SECI and State auctions will begin a new phase of robust growth for the wind industry critical for reaching the 60 GW wind power capacity goal by 2022 for the country,” Tarachandani added.
Order crunch
Falling wind power tariffs and slow pace of new wind power auctions due to introduction of competitive bidding mechanism in the segment have started putting pressure on turbine manufacturers, resulting in a decline in the firm’s revenues and orders for the past several quarters.
While reporting its results for the first quarter of the current fiscal, Inox Wind said it was seeing a temporary downturn in wind power market due to the transition from the feed-in-tariff based market regime to the auction based regime.
The company’s revenues declined by more than 75 per cent from ₹435 crore in Q1FYF17 to ₹106 crore in Q1FY18, dragging the firm to a net loss of ₹39 crore against a net profit of ₹11.9 crore a year ago.
Inox Wind’s current order book stands at 300 MW, based on SECI 1st wind auction, the company said in a presentation to investors.
Stiff competition
Several analysts tracking the sector told BusinessLine that Inox Wind was facing stiff competition from global manufacturers such as Suzlon and Gameza.
They said, the company was struggling to compete with other firms in terms of efficiency of turbine generators, which at a time of falling tariffs emerges as the key priority for wind project developers, as well as quality of supply.
When contacted, the company declined to comment on further prospects in the market.
The company is reportedly in talks with Russia’s State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom for selling its wind turbine manufacturing business.
A spokesperson for Rosatom, however, did not confirm this.
Source: thehindubusinessline
