India added 1.1GW of onshore wind projects in 2020 – the lowest new build in a decade. Siemens Gamesa kept its crown as market leader by accounting for nearly half of all capacity commissioned last year, with GE ranking second. Local suppliers lost ground against global turbine makers, as Inox and Suzlon together supplied 23% of new projects.
Atin Jain, associate at BloombergNEF said “Turbine makers faced unfavorable winds in 2020,” he added “All major manufacturers were under stress because of challenging market conditions brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic, he said. Siemens Gamesa changed its local leadership and is restructuring its India business, while Suzlon is grappling with financial and operational challenges despite completing its third debt restructuring. Other manufacturers had a difficult year as well.”
"While 2020 was the most challenging year for the Indian wind power sector in the past 15 years, the industry is quickly coming back on track. BloombergNEF expects 3.2 gigawatts of new wind capacity to be added in 2021, three-times the capacity added in 2020, "according to Shantanu Jaiswal, head of India research at BloombergNEF.
The Covid-19 pandemic resulted in nation-wide lockdowns in 2020 and caused severe disruptions to the supply chain and movement of goods and people, delaying project execution. The government granted developers a five-month extension to commission renewable energy projects that suffered construction delays.
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