Suzlon faces new blade production problems in China: WSJ

NEW YORK: The world's fifth largest wind power equipment maker, Suzlon Energy, is facing new blade production problems at a project in China's Shandong province, media report says.

Citing people familiar with the matter, the Wall Street Journal said "India's Suzlon Energy Ltd, one of the world's largest producers of wind turbines, faces new blade-production problems."

Earlier last year, Suzlon won a contract with Germany's REpower Systems AG to produce blades for 75 turbines for the China project and an option on 75 more.

Quoting people familiar with the matter, the newspaper said "REpower rejected Suzlon's prototype for the initial blades for not meeting REpower's quality standards and obtained them from other suppliers".

REpower lost at least 6 million euro on the first 75 turbines by having to ship stand-in blades to China from Europe, one of the people familiar with the matter told the WSJ.

Meanwhile, Suzlon is also trying to raise funds, including through selling a stake to private-equity firms. The company may be at risk of breaking debt covenants and has to pay 205 mn Euro, or about $275 mn, over the next six weeks to complete an acquisition.