Suzlon moves into solar power

India's Suzlon Energy (BOM: 532667) said today it has chosen two sites in India for its first investment into solar power.

Suzlon, the fourth-largest maker of wind turbines in the world, plans to build solar power plants in Gujarat and Rajasthan. The company did not release other details about the projects but cited the market opportunity in wind and solar for making the move to solar energy.

Suzlon currently has Rs 10,000 crore in customer orders for projects worth 2,500 megawatts in the wind sector. 

Suzlon has had a troubled year. In March, the company announced that cracks found in some of its turbine blades in the U.S. would require a retrofit costing $25 million (see Suzlon to spend $25M to fix wind turbines).

In recent weeks, market turmoil has prompted Suzlon to rethink plans to buy the remaining stake in Germany's REpower Systems (BER: RPW.BE) for €270 million ($360 million). The company said today that the deal will go through in May, six months later than planned.

Suzlon also dropped plans to invest in a Rs 669 crore ($136 million) new tower manufacturing facility (see Report: Suzlon resumes bid for REpower shares).

India is the fourth-largest wind energy producer in the world, with 9,500 MW of wind energy installed, according to the Indian Wind Energy Association (see India to remove cap on wind incentives).

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