Indian engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) company Suzlon is planning to expand its business lines to take a greater role in developing renewables projects globally, Executive Vice Chairman Girish Tanti told Infralogic today.

The Pune-headquartered company, which so far has specialised in manufacturing wind turbines, will seek to take a more active involvement in developing projects alongside other renewables developers that are typically its customers, Tanti said on the sidelines of a press conference today in Mumbai.

In addition, Suzlon will aim to broaden its current focus from wind farms to work on more complex projects integrating solar and battery energy storage with wind energy, which can dispatch power more reliably, added the executive.

While the company will take what it is calling its “devco model” to markets across Southeast Asia, Australia, Europe and South America, the potential to partner with developers in the initial stages of project development lies mostly in India, said Tanti.

Renewables developers in India usually first secure a power purchase agreement (PPA), and only later select a site and order equipment, but Tanti said this can make it difficult to adhere to timelines. Suzlon’s plan to start development work earlier would help tackle this issue.

“Even before my customer has a PPA, we will start working with them to develop the project so that when they bid for the PPA, they are certain of the cost structure, the timelines, design, and the risk profile,” said Tanti.

Suzlon will use its own funds to do the seed capital work, he said, and will hand over the project vehicle to clients once initial preparations including land clearances and permits are completed.

Suzlon’s approach aims at addressing the long waiting times to connect to the grid. The waiting list for grid connections goes all the way to 2032 in Rajasthan and up to 2028 in other states, industry officials have previously told Infralogic.

Speeding up project development prior to securing PPAs will help project sponsors as well as transmission operators to plan ahead, potentially ensuring timely delivery, said Tanti.

The Suzlon Group has more than 21.7 GW of wind energy capacity installed across 17 countries. With USD 10bn of assets under management in India, it has a 28% market share of the domestic wind energy equipment market, according to its latest investor presentation.