Forbes has just launched a business magazine focusing on India and has done a great — if wordy — story on the Indian wind turbine maker, Suzlon. Suzlon is the story of an entrepreneur — Tulsi Tanti — who sold his inherited textile business to start from scratch a renewable energy business installing and servicing wind farms in India.
Tanti ventured into manufacturing small wind turbines and expanded into the larger 2 MW+ turbines to exploit the supply-demand gap and long lead times required by the industry leaders, Vestas and GE. It was an ambitious run that resulted in big sales in the U.S. and Europe but came undone by inferior technology. Suzlon’s turbines broke and were often incompatible with grid systems in the U.S. Along the way, Suzlon also made a German acquisition that was poorly executed.
The result is a company now straddled with debt, slowing orders and falling market share, a demoralized work force following the departures of its CEO and CFO, and a failing reputation. Tanti, however, cannot be faulted for not being ambitious enough and, knowing what he has accomplished, a turnaround would not be surprising.
Global Wind Turbine Market Share in 2009
