By Michael Szabo
COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Demand for new wind power could far outstrip supply under a new global climate deal, the founder of Asia's largest wind turbine maker said this week, calling for new manufacturers to help industry to fill orders. Tulsi Tanti, also chairman of India's Suzlon Energy, said due to the size of the 36.5 billion euro ($53.5 billion) wind turbine market, he does not consider existing manufacturers as competition.
"The market is so large. With a deal agreed here it will grow even bigger, so there's a lot of room for the new players," Tanti said on the sidelines of U.N. climate talks in Copenhagen. "The industry hopes to grow more aggressively. The 10 (leading manufacturers) are not able to satisfy these targets, so we need more players."
Delegates from over 190 countries have scant time to iron out a new U.N. deal, aimed at shifting the world economy from fossil fuels toward low-carbon sources like wind power, before 110 world leaders descend on the talks later this week.
Tanti was optimistic about prospects that a successor to the existing Kyoto Protocol pact would include a deal on how rich nations would share clean energy technology with emerging ones.
One delegate on Saturday said negotiations had advanced and the "contours of a technology mechanism" were emerging.
"We don't see much immediate benefit in terms of existing technology, but a clean technology transfer agreement will mobilize resources for new technology, to develop the next generation of wind turbines," Tanti told Reuters. "It will bring economies of scale that will give us an opportunity to standardize the technology ... but the cost of wind technology has to come down to accommodate mass production," he added, likening it to the auto industry.
With its stake in Germany's REpower, Suzlon is the world's third largest wind turbine manufacturer behind Denmark's Vestas and Spain's Gamesa.
Wind power could help meet up to 65 percent of the emissions reductions pledged so far by developed nations, according to the Global Wind Energy Council. Tanti said that without a new climate deal, wind power is still forecast to supply some 20 percent of global energy by 2030. With a deal, he said that that could grow to 30 percent, resulting in a 10 percent cut in global carbon emissions.
Tanti said to hit that target, around 150 gigawatts of new capacity per year would be required over the next 20 years. He predicted that much of that new demand will come from Asia.
"We can grow renewable energy development in all Asian countries. That's the biggest opportunity we see," Tanti said.
(Reporting by Michael Szabo; Editing by Dominic Evans)
