ABB and Wescare to repower wind station

ABB New Ventures and the Indian company Wescare have signed a co-operation agreement to repower a wind station operated by Wescare in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. "We are now investigating the best plan of action," says Volker Biewendt of ABB. "We expect to replace the existing small machines with 1-2 MW turbines to raise the wind station capacity to 50.25 MW." ABB will jointly plan the repowering project with Wescare and will act as general contractor to build, connect and commission the turbines. It will be ABB New Ventures' first wind project on the subcontinent. "We see India as one of the key markets for our wind business outside Europe and the US and we're proud to have Wescare, a good experienced, local developer, for this project," says Bernhard Voll, head of international sales at the renewable energy business unit within ABB New Ventures in Zurich. Although "a lot of challenges have yet to be solved" the partners are optimistic about starting construction of the wind station in 2002. Wescare, based in Chennai in Andhra Pradesh, already operates several wind stations in India.