The $40-50 million facility, Suzlon’s first in Latin America, will produce S111-2MW nacelles, according to declarations to the press by chairman Tulsi Tanti this week.
The company is looking at prospective sites in the north-eastern states of Brazil.
With the facility, Suzlon aims to become an approved supplier by national development bank BNDES. In 2012, BNDES expelled five turbine manufacturers, including Suzlon, from its list of accredited suppliers, as they did not produce sufficient major components locally.
Suppliers without accreditation, and developers using non-accredited technology, are exempt from soft loans and other financial benefit packages for wind projects under BNDES’ so-called ‘Finame’ programme. Finame requires at least one of three major components — nacelles, towers or rotors — to be produced locally.
Fellow manufactures Vestas and Acciona, also excluded from Finame in 2012, have since met local content requirements.
