KHORI, INDIA, September 28, 2006: Life for Mr. Patil’s farming family in the remote hilly tribal area 200 miles NE of Mumbai had been relatively the same for hundreds of years until the turbines came. Now while Dilip Pantosh Patil is plowing his fields with a plow powered by oxen, turbines owned by Suzlon Energy are generating energy from wind power on neighboring land. The news release explains, “Wind power may still have an image as something of a plaything of environmentalists more concerned with clean energy than saving money. But it is quickly emerging as a serious alternative not just in affluent areas of the world but in fast-growing countries like India and China that are avidly seeking new energy sources. And leading the charge here in west-central India and elsewhere is an unlikely champion, Suzlon Energy, a homegrown Indian company. Suzlon passed Siemens of Germany last year to become the fifth-largest producer by installed megawatts of capacity.” The article also expounds on the origins of the company and the necessity for an alternate source of power, “Mr. Tanti and his three younger brothers were running a textile business in Gujarat, in northwestern India, when they purchased a German wind turbine – only to find that they could not keep it running. So they decided to build and maintain turbines themselves, starting Suzlon in 1995 and later leaving the textile business. Suzlon is an outgrowth in many ways of India’s dyfunctional power-distribution system. Electricity boards owned by state governments charge industrial users more than twice as much for each kilowatt-hour as such customers pay in the United States – and they still suffer blackouts almost every day, especially in northern India. Suzlon has expanded rapidly as global demand for wind energy has taken off. Its sales and earnings tripled in the quarter ended June 30. The demand for wind turbines has particularly accelerated in India, where installations rose nearly 48 percent last year, and in China. Coal is the main alternative in the two countries, and is causing acid rain and respiratory ailments while contributing to global warming.”
India’s minister of commerce and industry, Kamal Nath, adds, “India is ideally suited for wind energy. The cost of it works well and we have the manufacturing capability.” Suzlon has certainly faced challenges in establishing itself in the rural community as S. Mohammed Farook the installation manager has found out. “At least 63 new turbines, worth $1.3 million apiece and each capable of lighting several thousand homes when the wind blows, could not be put into service because thieves had stolen their copper power cables and aluminum service ladders for sale as scrap,” explains the news release. Also the company has to physically transport the huge rotors on special trucks while contending with rural roads and low electricity lines. However, Mr. Patil’s family has adjusted to the new turbines and says, “At first we were really confused about what was going on. But now we’re O.K. on it.”