Satish John

Mumbai: C Sivasankaran’s WinWinD Oy, the Finland-based wind turbine maker has charted out a major expansion plan that envisages making Chennai its main hub and increase manufacturing capacity by over 20 times its current capability.

WinwinD has an installed manufacturing capacity to make 140 MW, distributed between 30-35 wind turbines of 3 MW each and about 40 MW wind turbines of 1 MW each.

WinwinD’s Chennai capacity is slated to expand in a phased manner. Eventually the target is to ramp up capacity to 2,500 MW within five years, Srinivasan Vaidyanathan, group CFO of Sterling Group told DNA Money.

The land for the manufacturing site has been identified, he said. It is 40 kilometres away from Chennai.

Of late, the serial entrepreneur has betted aggressively on renewable energy and has been aggressively investing in ethanol and bio-diesel plants in the US. Siva acquired a 40% stake in WinwinD for $23 million. Since then Siva has gradually upped his stake to 90% in the Finnish company.

Confirming the ambitious plans, Vaidyanathan said the Chennai plant will begin operations by December this year.

WinwinD in Finland is traditionally known for its 3 MW wind turbines. In Chennai, however, the firm will focus initially on 1 MW wind turbines before venturing into 3 MW turbines for exports.

“We are finalising the vendors for the gear boxes and motors. The nacelle, the critical element for wind turbines and the blades will be made in house,” he added.

But a question looms whether Sivasankaran has the patience to grow a business gradually over five years.

Known to be a serial entrepreneur, Siva is known to exit businesses as fast as he enters. He has exited from telecom and Barista, a coffee retail chain in favour of Lavazza.

Vaidyanathan laughs at this aspersion.

“We stuck with our telecom business for a decade till it gained a size and scale.”

Nobody can rule out Siva from selling WindwinD, but Vaidyanthan argues that WinwinD has to reach a sizeable scale, before Siva even thinks about selling his wind venture.

Source : DNA