BEYOND TURBINES. Suzlon Energy offers full-suite services | Photo Credit: Dhiraj Singh

Last week, Suzlon Energy Ltd (SUEL) released its Q3 results, buoyed by the wind it harnesses for its business. The wind turbine manufacturer’s net profit for the first three quarters of 2025-26 is almost equal to that of the full year 2024-25 — ₹2,048 crore against ₹2,072 crore. But a key insight into the company’s recent success lay buried in the mass of facts, figures and effusive statements in the press release. In his quote, Suzlon Group Vice-Chairman Girish Tanti revealed, almost in passing, that the company would “launch a DevCo”.

A DevCo? The term means little until one unpacks it. What Tanti meant was that Suzlon would create a wholly-owned subsidiary to “develop” projects before bagging them.

In the renewable energy industry, particularly wind, considerable groundwork can be done to get the equipment supplier battle-ready. That is exactly what Tanti meant when, in a conversation with businessline recently, he spoke of “decoupling” project development and project execution.

In the Indian wind industry, only three players provide full-suite, end-to-end services to developers — Suzlon, Inox (both turbine manufacturers), and Pune-based Powercon (a standalone solutions provider). Others perform segmented roles: turbine makers supply equipment, land aggregators secure sites, and turnkey contractors build projects. The full-service provider, however, will put up the plant and run it — you simply invest.

Indeed, this is precisely what Denmark-based developer Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, a new entrant in India, has done — handing over the entire responsibility of erecting, commissioning and operating a 300-MW wind project to Powercon.

Suzlon, the largest end-to-end service provider, is uniquely placed to decouple project development from execution. It can acquire — or secure control over — land, obtain permits, conduct micro-siting studies, such as terrain and wake-loss analyses, and undertake pre-construction surveys, including soil testing, hydrology and drainage assessments.

Suzlon is more advantageously positioned because it possesses a key input most others lack: data. It has over 10,000 operating wind turbines in India. These generate investor returns, and also continuously enrich Suzlon’s data bank. The company sits on a mountain of wind data collected from the thousands of wind masts installed (and later dismantled) across sites to measure wind speeds.

With this data muscle and development capability, Suzlon couples its turbine offering with the promise of swift execution. This was its winning pitch to steelmaker ArcelorMittal, which in January awarded Suzlon an order for 248.5 MW of turbines.

The thinking now is to house development work in a separate company; hence the DevCo. A distinct entity has become necessary, given the scale of development Suzlon plans to undertake — 25 GW. Group CEO JP Chalasani says the company wants EPC (project construction) to contribute 50 per cent of revenues by 2028, roughly double the current levels. Project development is a necessary precursor.

This decoupling strategy takes the company back full circle to the old industry dynamic where turbine manufacturers owning land cornered orders — captured in the adage “Jiska jameen, uska machine.”

Record order book

Suzlon’s project development strength largely explains its recent momentum. Despite recording its highest-ever quarterly deliveries at 617 MW, the company sits on a record order book of 6.4 GW — which, Chalasani notes, exceeded the quarter’s opening order book.

After years of dormancy, India’s wind sector began reviving in 2024-25, with fresh installations of 4.1 GW. In just the first nine months of 2025-26, installations have already touched 4.6 GW. There is little doubt the full year will set a new record, exceeding the previous high of 5.5 GW in 2016-17.

A key driver of this growth is the advent of firm dispatchable renewable energy (FDRE) bids, which require developers to supply renewable power on demand — during both peak and non-peak hours. FDRE supply necessitates complementary wind and solar capacities, balanced with battery storage. While some experts criticise FDRE for potentially oversizing capacities, it has nonetheless rocket-fuelled the wind industry.

Suzlon appears well positioned to ride this buoyancy. Equity research firm Motilal Oswal Financial Services notes that 15-17 GW of wind projects are currently at the bidding or award stage, “providing healthy visibility for near-term order inflows” for Suzlon.

“The company’s superior execution track record versus domestic peers, coupled with the limited participation of Chinese OEMs in the EPC space, positions SUEL favourably to capture complex and largescale projects,” Motilal Oswal says.

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Published on February 16, 2026