India's wind energy capacity in FY25 crossed the halfway mark (50.04 GW) to the 100 GW-by-2030 target. But according to JP Chalasani, CEO of Suzlon Group, one of India’s leading renewable energy companies, the challenge of gaining momentum has just begun in an otherwise self-sufficient wind sector.
In an interview to Moneycontrol, Chalasani raised concerns over underutilization of manufacturing capacities of components of the wind sector. For FY26, he said India is likely to install a wind capacity of 6 GW, marking a 33 percent rise from the 4.5 GW installed in FY25.
As for business strategies of the Suzlon Group, Chalasani said they are open to exploring the export market, but only in the long-run. He said the Group intends to focus on India by expanding its subsidiary Renom’s business to become a leading comprehensive maintenance service provider for windmills. The Group's other subsidiary, SeForge, plans to sell its foundry and forging products to the defense and railways sectors, Chalasani said.
Edited excerpts:
Suzlon’s March quarter numbers have been robust and the company also for the first time issued an FY26 guidance. What would you attribute this to?
This has not happened overnight. We tried to fix fundamental issues facing us. First, internal issue is in terms of our cost, which we reduced. We brought down the breakeven point to 650-700 megawatts (MW) from 1300-1400 MW in our wind turbine business.
Second, we started fixing our balance sheet. Today, we have a debt free balance sheet, plus we have Rs 2,000-crore cash in the balance sheet.
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Third, we looked at tailwinds and prepared our organization. So, we brought in a new set of people, enlarged the organization capabilities, brought in CEOs for different businesses to independently run those businesses, systems, processes.
Fourth, we launched a new model of 3.15 MW wind turbine last year called ‘S144’, which has been our most successful product so far.
In FY24, we delivered 710 MW. In FY25, we more than doubled it to 1550 MW and now, we have also given a guidance that in FY26 we will at least have 60 percent growth across all parameters.
Power demand this summer has remained lower than the projection until now, which even brought spot prices down to zero. How do you see this impacting the wind sector?
India's overall power demand in May was down by 4 percent due to early monsoons, but the peak power demand touched a record high of 231 GW in May, 2025, as per government data. For the wind energy segment, these dynamics reinforce the need for a balanced and flexible renewable energy mix that can meet peak loads efficiently. Early seasonal variations may cause short-term fluctuations in demand, but the long-term growth trajectory for wind remains robust, driven by India's ambitious clean energy targets. As an industry, we are confident of doing 6 GW installations this year as opposed to 4.5 GW.
Do you think India is well on track to achieve 100 GW of wind capacity by 2030 and 400 GW by 2047?
India’s wind potential is 1,200 GW, of which the country has harnessed only 5 percent so far. The wind sector in India is probably the only one which has overcapacity in terms of manufacturing. It is 'atmanirbhar' with 70-80 percent domestic value component (DVC) in Suzlon’s case. The challenge is that we are utilising only 20 percent of the 20 GW annual production capacity of wind turbines. There’s not as much demand. Besides, India’s gearbox production is 29 GW, blades is 28 GW and generators is 15 GW annually – all underutilised. For example, we had a 3 GW generator factory in Coimbatore which we sold when we were in difficult situation. That factory is not producing even a single generator today as there's no demand. If these capacities are fully utilised, prices of wind energy in India will come down further.
We need to increase the pace of installation by expeditiously resolving land issues. At the current pace, I believe we will be able to reach 85-90 GW against the 100 GW target by 2030, which is also fairly good. The government has proposed the Revised List of Models and Manufacturers (RLMM) reforms which would boost demand for manufacturers like us who have high domestic value component.
What is Suzlon’s long-term growth plan?
For Suzlon Energy Limited, the commercial and industrial (C&I) sector is the biggest focus area as there is huge demand for their captive use. For example, we signed 3 contracts with Jindal Steel and Power (JSPL) to supply renewable energy to power their steel plants in Chhattisgarh and Odisha.
The C&I segment currently constitutes 55 percent of our business, followed by orders by public sector undertakings (PSUs) which is 26 percent. The rest (19 percent) is through auctions in which we directly participate and for all of it, we have signed power purchase agreements (PPAs).
Every wind turbine we sell is a new service opportunity for us, which is where our second business under Renom comes into play. This business today is roughly around Rs 1,800 crore topline in India. We do this a little bit internationally as well. But the India business gives us 40 percent EBITDA margin. So, it's a good margin. We are going to scale our comprehensive maintenance service under which we will offer a 25 year wind turbine warranty, which no other company currently offers in India.
The third business is of our foundry and forging subsidiary SEForge where we plan to expand to sectors such as defence and railways.
Are you exploring markets overseas?
Right now we're not exporting anything. We have increased our manufacturing capacity to 4.5 GW, which if evenly loaded through 365 days can produce 5.5 GW. India is our top priority. We are exploring various markets, but do not have export plans in the short and medium term.
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