Spain’s Gamesa plans to invest €60 million in India

Spain's leading wind turbine maker Gamesa Corp. Technologica SA,  plans to invest over €60 million (Rs375 crore) through 2012 to build new wind turbine manufacturing plants in India as part of the company's strategy to expand into fast-growing markets, Gamesa said in a statement yesterday.

Madrid-based Gamesa, a global leader in wind turbine manufacturing and a top wind farm developer, already has presence in India through its subsidiary Gamesa Wind Turbines Pvt Ltd. 

Responding to media reports that it may acquire a stake in Tulsi Thanti-promoted Suzlon, the Spanish turbine maker said it plans to build its own factories in India's growing wind market.

The company operates a turbine unit near Chennai, which began production about a year ago. The facility produces Gamesa G5X-850 kW wind turbines and has an annual capacity of 500 MW.

Under the new investment plan, Gamesa intends to build a turbine blade factory in the state of Gujarat for making blades for the G5X-850 kW turbines with an initial production capacity of 300 MW. In future, the facility may produce components for its higher capacity turbines such as the G9X-2.0 MW.

The turbine maker plans to open additional manufacturing plants in India in coming years to produce towers and nacelles - the housing for turbine components - at various locations in Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, the company said.