Suzlon to Bid in South Africa’s Third Clean-Energy Project Round

Suzlon Energy Ltd., India’s largest wind-turbine maker, said plans to build a plant in South Africa are “advanced” as President Jacob Zuma’s government prepares to accept renewable-power proposals in a third round of bidding.

“We are looking forward to submitting a new bid,” Silas Zimu, chief executive officer of Suzlon’s local unit, said today in an interview at the World Economic Forum in Cape Town. “We expect to go big on the third round.”

Suzlon was previously selected to install turbines in South Africa in the first round of renewable-energy auctions in 2011. The company said in April 2012 it planned to generate 2,000 MW of power in the country within five years.

South Africa, where state-owned utility Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. struggles to meet rising power demand with coal-fed plants, has begun a program to boost electricity generation by awarding contracts to build wind and solar projects. Bidders in the third of five rounds must submit proposals by Aug. 19 as the country seeks 3,725 MW of renewable capacity by the end of 2016.

Suzlon, based in the Indian city of Pune, has also been short-listed for projects in Mozambique and Madagascar, and has been invited to bid for others in Zimbabwe and Nigeria, Zimu said today.