Our Order Book Is Likely To Exceed 4 GW by March 2023 at Envision Energy India

Envision Energy India has had a great run in the past few months, with order bookings for its Wind Turbine Generators hitting record levels of over 2.7 GW for projects over the next 25 months. With production capacity set to hit over 3 GW by Q2 2023, the future promises an exciting set of possibilities for the firm, in a sector that has seen an extended lull for the 2019-21 period. We spoke to Inder Bhambra, Country Head, BD and Sales at Envision Energy India, on the firms plans and updates.

 

SaurEnergy: Give us the current status of Envision India, in terms of installed base, order book, manufacturing/production India and total employees.

Inder Bhambra: Envision Energy has an installed base of 232.5 MW in the Saurashtra region of Gujarat, through projects of Sprng Alt Energy (now a Shell owned company), and Renew Power. These projects use our EN131/2.5 wind turbine generators (WTGs) with rotor diameter of 131 m, rated capacity of 2.5 MW and a hub height of 120 m. The new order book of Envision of 2,700 MW is comprised entirely of the state-of-the-art EN156/3.3s. With erection commenced for these WTGs in Gujarat and Karnataka and commissioning scheduled in a couple of months, EN156/3.3 will be the largest and tallest WTGs operational in the market with an RD of 156 m and hub height of 140 m. Considering the performance levels achieved by the EN131/2.5s in Saurashtra; the supply chain strength exhibited through timely deliveries ever since 2019; and the most appropriate configuration for Indian wind regime offered through the new EN156s, Envision has become the most sought after original equipment manufacturer (OEM) in India. Booking orders for 2.7 GW over 15 months has set a record un-paralleled over the past three decades in the country. Through a nacelle and hub assembly plant operational in Pune since 2018; dedicated moulds producing blades at LM’s plants in Karnataka and Gujarat; and our own blade manufacturing plant coming up in Tamil Nadu shortly, Envision Energy India will have a production capacity of over 3 GW per annum by Q2 2023. With the employee strength growing five-fold on reaching the referred manufacturing capacity of 3,000 MW PA, Envision will still remain the leanest OEM of such scale in India, maintaining an unparalleled level of productivity.

 

SaurEnergy: Is India an export base for you too? Share of exports from India versus domestic sales?

Inder Bhambra: Considering the growing demand in India for WTGs, we will leverage our local manufacturing capabilities for meeting the domestic requirements, for now. However, with neighbouring countries opening up and with Envision already booking sizeable orders in the Middle East and the North African markets, exports from India in the near future is a certainty.

 

SaurEnergy:Tell us more about your energy storage and green hydrogen divisions? What are the expectations from these going forward?

Inder Bhambra: The Envision Group acquired a majority stake in the batteries business of Nissan AESC in 2018 and is now manufacturing batteries across the globe under the brand Envision AESC. While we may bring in Lithium Ion cells from our global manufacturing facilities for now, we plan to localise battery packs manufacturing for EV application and the entire DC-skid for large scale grid-connected stationary applications. The Group offers turnkey solution for green hydrogen production and is scheduled to commence mass production of green hydrogen and green ammonia in China from Q4 2023. We are in discussion with potential clients in India for deploying state-of-the-art electrolysers and synthesizers designed in-house for their projects planned here as well as in the MENA region. Storage and P2X technology coupled with AIoT based applications from Envision Digital will be our next product lines for the Indian market.

 

SaurEnergy: With India announcing (finally), an offshore wind policy, is that also an opportunity for you to look forward to?

Inder Bhambra: Envision is ready to launch the 8x platform of offshore WTGs in India. These are most suitable for the wind regime prevalent in the offshore sites identified by the Indian government off the states of Tamil Nadu and Gujarat. The 14x platform is also in the development stage with the prototype likely to be installed in another year from now.

 

SaurEnergy: The wind energy sector has lagged behind solar in recent years, mostly due to cost concerns. Do you feel those issues have been overblown? Will wind make a comeback, especially with talk of a stronger focus on hybrid projects now?

Inder Bhambra: Wind power combines very well with solar and energy storage to meet the high capacity utilisation factor (CUF) requirement prescribed under the auctions for round-the-clock (RTC) projects by Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) Limited and state governments. Independent power producers (IPPs) have also been focussing on newer power offtake arrangements besides power purchase agreements (PPAs) with state utilities directly, or through SECI. These offtake arrangements require to maintain very high levels of CUF, where wind plays a key role, bringing much higher levels of CUF as compared to solar and sustaining production during the evening and night hours. Wind power helps meet the peak power requirements of the evening, effectively reducing dependence on expensive stationary storage solutions.

SaurEnergy: What is Envision doing with respect to recycling its wind equipment?

Inder Bhambra: For Envision, preserving the environment is critical. Envision started installing WTGs only with effect from 2010. Our entire fleet of WTGs across China, India or other parts of the world, is yet to meet the half-life mark and hence there is time for us to begin reuse of the major components. Currently, we have plans to use the packaging material for WTG components for making furniture for schools near our project sites and we follow stringent waste disposal norms along with our clients for consumables like grease and oil. Going forward, we will certainly ensure that most components of WTGs post the operational life are recycled to the maximum extent.

 

SaurEnergy: What do you expect from the wind energy sector in 2023, leading up to 2025? What is the expected market share for Envision during this time?

Inder Bhambra: Varied power offtake arrangements like captive consumption, group captive consumption, B2B PPAs and merchant sale (exchange-traded power), besides the conventional DISCOM PPAs will accelerate wind power installations from 2023. From the levels of 1 GW to 1.3 GW installations per annum over the last five years, since reverse auctions have begun, we see the installations exceeding 4 GW per annum by as early as 2025. We aim to continue being the largest producers of wind turbines in India by bringing in the right technology, cost optimization through increased local content, design optimisation of the likes of raised foundation, etc., on a continuous basis. Our order book is likely to exceed 4 GW by March 2023 for deliveries spread over 2023 and 2024.

 

SaurEnergy: What are the biggest innovations in the past five years and expected in the next five, when it comes to your area of operations?

Inder Bhambra: We continue to increase the rotor size every two to three years for efficient harnessing of energy from lower wind speeds prevalent at newer sites of the country. This maintains or improves the levelized cost of energy (LCoE) which is the need of the hour. We have also moved from a 120 m hub height for our 2.5 MW WTG to 140 m for the 3.3 MW WTG in order to capitalise on the positive wind shear across sites with largely plain terrains. By 2025, we will introduce larger WTGs in terms of MW rating and rotor size with potentially varying composition of tower material for achieving higher hub heights as well. We are exploring use of hybrid towers for the prevailing hub heights of 140 m as well, in order to compensate the increased cost of debt and steel price in the recent past.