Address from the CEO
Dear Stakeholders,
I am pleased to share that FY24 was a transformative year for the Suzlon Group with high levels of commercial and organisational activity throughout the year. We focused on moving away from cyclical business growth and built a platform for both sustained and sustainable growth in FY24. We deem this move critical for our sector as India’s Renewable Energy sector is coming into its own and shaping up to be a more stable landscape for businesses, owing to the political advocacy following the announcement of the 500 GW target for Renewable Energy by 2030. This is a crucial incentive for players who have the expertise to contribute to the nation’s development.
As a key player in the market, Suzlon has been able to keep up with the nation’s goals while championing India’s energy transition by skilfully utilising and adapting our cutting-edge technology, robust project execution capabilities, and remarkable Operations and Maintenance Services (OMS) to the new demand.
FY24 was one of our most successful years – financially and operationally – in almost a decade. Our balance sheet reported healthy financials with 15.8% EBITDA margins and concluded the year with a 428% YoY increase in PAT (before exceptional items).
We recorded 3.8 GW in order book by June 30, 2024 the largest-ever since 2017, of which 3.3 GW (88%) was contributed by orders for Suzlon’s highly successful 3.x MW S144 series. This evident inclination of the market towards the new product proves Suzlon’s commitment to identifying the market gaps and opportunities and the strong culture of customer-centrism in our supply chain.
We have ~15 GW of turbines installed and running in India, made from a predominantly domestic supply chain – all custom designed for every client’s performance requirement. Suzlon has also leveraged the Renewable Energy demand from the Commercial & Industrial (C&I) segment as businesses have begun to appreciate the commercial benefits of decarbonising their factories. With this opportunity, we are able to expand our green portfolio through meaningful partnerships with clients who are just as committed to expanding theirs.
A forerunner in the Indian Wind Energy sector, Suzlon has the advantage of 29 years of experience in the country, and the team that drives our operations is our greatest asset.
Suzlon recognises that the political momentum and climate action goals are opening up many avenues for business expansion in this sector. To leverage these opportunities, in FY24, we really committed to building our organisational capabilities and added strong leaders and talented contributors from various technical and non- technical fields to our team.
I am very pleased to share that 80% of our talent on operational sites is local. We are steadfast supporters of promoting the local for a global impact. Since most of our sites are in low connectivity rural areas, part of remote communities, it is crucial for us to support the empowerment of these indigenous people.
Non-Fossil Fuel Target for 2030*
Suzlon has also sincerely invested in nurturing entry-level, mid-level, and upper management level professionals through focused initiatives that use a scientific approach in the learning and development of our people. More importantly, we recognise that the nature of our field is quite technical, and we are conscious of it being predominantly driven by men. Therefore, we are proactively promoting recruitment programmes that facilitate diversity and inclusion within our staff.
Through strategic interventions at every level, we were able to harbour excellence in our products, operations, and teams in FY24.
Our effort in Manufacturing, Operations and Maintenance Services (OMS), and Technology among more was further recognised by many prestigious industry platforms, including the Suzlon Global Services Limited (SGSL) being recognised as ‘Best OMS Service Provider’ and with the ‘Digital Technology of the Year - Wind Farm Control Centre’ award by WindInsider’s Indian Wind Energy Forum 2023.
Suzlon was titled ‘Energy Company of the Year’ at The Economic Times Energy Leadership Awards 2023, andwe received the ‘Best Construction and Infrastructure Brands - Renewable Energy Suppliers 2023’ award from The Times Group.
Our Rotor Blade Manufacturing Unit in Bhuj and Panel Manufacturing Unit in Daman received a Gold medal each at the National Award for Manufacturing Competitiveness 2022-23 hosted by the International Research Institute for Manufacturing (IRIM).
For his contribution to India’s Renewable Energy sector, the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) posthumously felicitated Late Mr. Tulsi Tanti with the ‘Pioneer Award 2023’ while the Indian Wind Turbine Manufacturers Association (IWTMA) bestowed him with an honorary award for his pioneering contribution and patronage of the Indian wind industry.
Following the rapid growth in our operational and financial performance, Suzlon was recognised among ‘500 Most Valuable Private Companies in India’ by Axis Bank's Burgundy Private & Hurun India. Likewise, our Group Chief Financial Officer, Mr. Himanshu Mody, won the ‘Turnaround CFO of the Year’ award at The Economic Times CFO Awards 2024 for his exceptional work with revitalising Suzlon’s financial standing and mitigating a potential economic crunch for the nation.
As we worked on expanding our horizon in people capabilities, Suzlon also renewed our Great Place To Work® certification for 2023-24, further encouraging our dedication to nurturing a culture of talent and growth for our people.
Suzlon's WTG Order Book Mix
Our
We concluded our year of successes with the title of ‘Sustainable Manufacturer of The Year’ at the Machinist Super Shopfloor Awards 2024 by The Times Group, which once again emphasised our commitment to excellence in every avenue of our business.
As a Renewable Energy company, matters related to sustainability are always a top priority for Suzlon. Our 20.8 GW of global wind installations have helped reduce 53.37 Million tonnes of CO2 emissions annually, which is equivalent to 4.45 billion trees absorbing CO2 every year.
After formally instating Suzlon’s Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) wing previously, we won the ‘ESG Award’ at The Economic Times Sustainable Organizations 2023.
Under the ESG initiatives, we commenced the process of transforming all of the Suzlon Group’s manufacturing buildings into 100% green buildings, starting with Suzlon Energy Limited (SEL). We have also completed the recertification of our Integrated Management System, i.e. ISO 9001:2015 (Quality Management System), ISO 14001:2015 (Environment Management System), and ISO 45001:2018 (Health and Safety Management System).
In an effort to promote diversity within the organisation, we officially formed our first Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) council, which is responsible for initiating programmes to support Suzlon’s commitment to being an equal opportunities employer, irrespective of race, gender, caste, sexual orientation, and disability.
Since the Suzlon Foundation's inception, we have been able to impact
Furthermore, we undertook clear targets and concrete actions to improve our diversity. I personally signed the UN Global Impact Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEP) on behalf of Suzlon to advance gender equality within the organisation.
The Suzlon Foundation, our CSR arm, has continued to create social impact using our ‘SuzTain’ model.
Since the Suzlon Foundation's inception, we have been able to impact 1.23 Million people positively from 183,308 families across 800 villages. The Suzlon Foundation remedied 1.12 Million animals and planted almost 1.9 Million trees in an effort to restore our environment. Through our initiatives, we conserved nearly 47 Million cubic metres of water and helped recycle 451,987 kg of waste.
Suzlon Foundation worked with
As a tribute to Late Mr. Tulsi Tanti, we launched two scholarships, the Tulsi Tanti Shakti Scholarship for girl child education and the Tulsi Tanti Udaan Scholarship for higher education for engineers, on his birthday. Simultaneously, the Suzlon Foundation worked with 149,496 students to provide them with better education, especially in areas with low connectivity.
The Suzlon Foundation also collaborated with ATREE, The Grassland Trust, and the Pune Divisional Commissioner’s Office to restore Savanah Grasslands in Gulunche, Pune for the vital preservation of our planet’s biodiversity and environmental ecosystem.
Going forward, our focus will remain on on-time execution of our existing order book and completing the internal and external projects related to operations and management. We will be working on developing high-performance products that align with the industry’s demand and our vision alike while significantly expanding our Service Business, which has been a key part of our growth so far.
As a country, we continue to face headwinds in wind capacity addition due to on-ground execution challenges. The Renewable Energy sector’s growth heavily relies on Hybrid projects of wind, solar & storage. If we are to do 45 GW to 50 GW of Renewable Energy addition each year to meet our targets, we ought to boost Wind Energy. Being the largest player in the sector, Suzlon has a big role to play in this journey. While we will keep exploring and leveraging strategic opportunities, we look forward to receiving support from the policymakers and sectoral committees to facilitate Renewable Energy’s growth in India.
I truly value the unfailing trust of our investors, and we are encouraged by our stakeholders’ continuous support to move confidently towards realising our vision of leaving a greener planet for generations to come.
