Bert Nordberg, chairman of Danish wind turbine maker Vestas gave a commitment to the PM that the company was willing to bring in substantial foreign direct investment (FDI) into India for setting up a wind turbine blade manufacturing factory.
Within 10 days of the meeting, the Vestas board approved its India plan, gave its nod to a factory location 30 km west of Ahmedabad. Next step was to sign an MOU, procure 20 permits and finally investing €70 million (roughly Rs 500 crore) to establish a greenfield manufacturing unit in a 36-acre plot off the Ahmedabad-Rajkot highway.
All this was made possible in flat 15 months due to effective influence of the “Invest India cell” of the Government of India.
Today about 1,000 people, including 250 engineers and 750 operators, are working in the factory that has already stocked 230 blades in the last seven months; one blade is 54 metres long and weighs eight tonnes. They have followed international norms in building this factory, with safety as a priority. It’s all air-conditioned; the workforce is well-trained, 150 of them in Vestas US factories.
The Gujarat factory has a capacity of 600 MW produces 900 blades a year; three blades are needed for one wind turbine of 2 MW, producing enough electricity for as many as 35 villages. If needed, they can expand the factory and double its production.
Source- Vestas PR