Winds of change come to country plagued by power blackouts (India)

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/dec/30/renewable-energy-alternative-energy-wind

Winds of change come to country plagued by power blackouts
One man's vision has turned demand for renewable power into a global business
Randeep Ramesh in Dhule
The Guardian, Tuesday 30 December 2008


An Indian farmer tends his land in Dhule amid wind turbines at Suzlon Energy's windfarm, the largest in Asia. Photograph: Amit Bhargava/Corbis

The forest of white windmills that make up Asia's largest wind farm can be seen from miles away. Dotted across 2,000 square kilometres of hills and villages on a basalt plateau in western India sit more than 800 turbines - generating more than 1,000 megawatts of electricity.

The towering machines, which stand 80 metres tall, cast shadows across fields tilled by man and buffalo - a stark juxtaposition of ancient and modern India. For one man, however, the windmill farm in Dhule is a fitting riposte to the critics who derided his dream to build a global green energy business from a country plagued by crippling power cuts.

In little more than a decade, Tulsi Tanti has made Suzlon Energy into the world's fifth-largest producer of wind turbines - selling them at a couple of million dollars apiece. Company turnover last year increased by 29% to $1.8bn (£1.2bn). About 90% of Suzlon's order book is from markets outside India - largely the US, South America and China.

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Suzlon's biggest acquisition has been a rollercoaster ride. The Indian company won a bidding war with French nuclear power group Areva with a $1.6bn offer for Repower, a maker of huge wind turbines.

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