Gamesa Corporación Tecnológica S A, a Spain-based wind turbine manufacturer, is planning to invest around ¤100 million (around Rs 630 crore) to set up facilities in two Indian states, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Gamesa Wind Turbines (Pvt) Ltd.
Speaking to Business Standard after launching its research and development (R&D) centre in Chennai, Jorge Calvet, chairman and CEO, Gamesa, said, the one year old Indian subsidiary has started civil works for a blade manufacturing facility and will set up a tower manufacturing facility in Baroda, Gujarat. It would also invest in land acquisition, as part of expansion plans, he added.
The proposed blade manufacturing facility, with a capacity of around 400 sets of 850 Kw blades per annum and the tower manufacturing facility with a capacity of around 400 towers per annum, would be ready by September, 2011.
The tower manufacturing facility is coming up through a joint venture with another company, said Ramesh Kymal, chairman and managing director of Gamesa Wind Turbines (P) Ltd. The total investment for the projects in Gujarat would be Rs 300 crore, he said.
Besides, the company would also set up a manufacturing unit for its G9X-2MW turbines in Chennai with an investment of around Rs 120 crore. Plans are to commence operations in the facility by first quarter of fiscal year 2012-13, he added.
The company would double its staff strength to 1,000 people from the current 462 people in a years time, said Calvet. We would invest significantly in human resources, for which the details we cannot disclose. We are keenly implementing a policy, by which, all the new employees will be sent to our training centres in Spain, US or China to train them our global standards, he said.
It has launched its R&D centre and new office in the outskirts of the city, this week. The R&D centre is designed as an extension for its current research and engineering activities in other centres and would have 100 employees in next one year.
Gamesa, a manufacturing company focused on the fabrication of wind turbines and the construction of wind farms, has bagged 200 orders in the first year of operation in India and supplied around 170 machines. The company expects to triple production in India and has received orders for 300 machines this year, said Kymal.
