Suzlon,  a wind turbine manufacturer and renewable energy project developer, intends to re-enter the international market, a senior company official told PTI.

In the past, the company had expanded its operations, generating 60% of its revenue. However, the global financial crisis of 2008 seriously affected the investment in the wind energy space.

Recently, Mercom reported that Suzlon registered a net loss of ₹3.84 billion (~$0.057 billion) for FY 2018. The consolidated net term debt of Suzlon stood at ₹60.37 billion (~$0.89 billion) while its working capital debt is valued at ₹38.89 billion (~$0.58 billion).

The company has been working strategically to bring down its debts to more sustainable levels. It has divested a part of its international operations and gone through a debt restructuring. It has also sold one of its overseas assets, the German subsidiary Senvion at an equity value of €1 billion (~$ 1.17 billion) in January 2015.

Suzlon continues to own 100 percent of its domestic assets and has a strategic presence in select overseas market, with only 5 percent of its shares held by lenders.

“There was a time our exports were more than our domestic revenue. Then, we went through a financial crisis forcing us to slow down our international business and stabilise whatever assets we have.
But now that we have regained our market position, we are planning to re-enter international market shortly. We hope to get some orders as early as next quarter,” JP Chalasani, the chief executive of Suzlon told PTI.

Recently, the company secured a repeat order of 96.6 MW from renewable energy project developer ReNew Power for the development of a wind project in the state of Karnataka.

Wind installations have slowed down in India as the government announced the move from feed-in tariffs to reverse auctions. Competition to win auctions is intense. Trade disputes are also affecting the sector with the DGAD in August 2017, recommending anti-dumping duty on castings for wind-operated electricity generators originating in or exported from China.

Suzlon has an international presence in 18 countries across Asia, Australia, Europe, Africa, and north and south America. With an operational track record of over two decades, the group has a cumulative installation of over 17 GW of wind energy capacity, of which over 11 GW are in India.

Nitin is a staff reporter at Mercomindia.com and writes on renewable energy and related sectors. Prior to Mercom, Nitin has worked for CNN IBN, India News, Agricultural Spectrum and Bureaucracy Today. He received his bachelor’s degree in Journalism & Communication from Manipal Institute of Communication at Manipal University and Master’s degree in International Relations from Jindal School of International Affairs. More articles from Nitin Kabeer