It was not too long ago that Aralvaimozi, in India’s southern tip was a sleepy, impoverished village with little or no infrastructure facilities.
Against a backdrop of coconut trees and hilly terrain, villagers toiled the fields cursing the strong winds that came through a nearby mountain gap of the Western Ghats to make their already strenuous lives, more uncomfortable.
Today, you don’t hear too much of that cursing in this hamlet. Instead, when the breeze blows here now, Aralvaimozi dances to the tune of wind, which brings with it millions of dollars of unpolluted economic spin offs and stands as a success story of India’s renewable energy mission.
One of the world’s fastest growing economies, India’s burgeoning population, annual economic growth in the 8 percent to 9 percent range, and rising energy demands continue to place intense pressure on the country’s fragile ecosystems, particularly its forests.
However, India has been fighting land degradation and desertification and investing in green technology, including one of the world’s largest green energy projects that will generate thousands of megawatts of solar and wind power.
According to a HSBC Global Research report, India is on track to install 2,984 MW of new wind power in 2011 -- an increase of 39% over last year’s installations.
“The key drivers for growth are primarily a strong policy framework and improving cost competitiveness of wind technology compared to conventional generation,” the report noted.
For, Jeffrey Ciachurski, the CEO of Western Wind Energy (TSXV: WND), the winds of change blowing in India provide a great opportunity to transplant his company’s expertise in Asia.
“India needs a lot of power and has a solid framework for renewable energy production…we have begun looking at several projects there,” said Ciachurski.
Unlike many renewable energy companies in Canada which are in a tailspin, Western Wind is riding the wind all the way to the bank.
Currently Western Wind has two wind farms with a total capacity of 34.5 megawatts operating in California, a 10.5 megawatt wind and solar project in Arizona and is developing a project in Puerto Rico.
Later this month, it will bring online its 120 megawatt Windstar Wind Farm in Tehachapi, California. The Windstar deal, which will be able to power to 36,000 homes has been sweetened with Western Wind getting a U.S. Government cash grant totalling US$108 million.
All of this translates to a home-grown company with humble beginnings boasting $340 million of wind assets and a revenue stream in 2012 of $51 million.
“Not bad for a guy who came into the wind energy business just 12 years ago,” said Vancouver businessman, Sam Hirji, who helped kickstart Western Wind with a $20,000 cheque.
Born and raised in Greater Vancouver, Ciachurski, 51, graduated from BCIT’s mining school and started his first public company in 1985.
“It did not take me long to realise that there is money in the wind and the sun that God has given us,” said the father of seven children.
“In 1998 when I met Sam, wind power was more a curiosity and the rush was on to build projects...so many did, without proper foresight and planning,” said Ciachurski.
Western Wind, on the other hand, decided to stand back and not rush headlong into projects.
Ciachurski started building a team of meteorological experts, entrepreneurial directors and ex-local government officials with experience in renewable energy resource management.
“We then hunted for windswept areas, where utility companies were paying top dollar for clean energy supply, focussed on buying up land in these areas and establishing long term contracts,” said Ciachurski, whose company is among the few that own the land where their windmills turn.
This approach has yielded great dividends as Western Wind’s long-term price contracts with utility firms are on the average twice what other wind power producers have negotiated in California and Arizona.
A firm believer in “you get what you pay for”, Ciachurski surrounds himself with top talent, forking out “50 to 60 percent more in remuneration packages for staff, which brings 300 percent in returns to the company”.
And he is no mere wind-talker when it comes to clean energy. Practicing what he preaches, Ciachurski recently took delivery of his Chevy Volt, one of the first first fully-electric cars of its kind in Vancouver.
“We now have four and everyone in Western Wind will be driving one soon,” said Ciachurski. whose vanity plate is of course “WNDPWR”.
Western Wind’s success comes with a price as his company was recently targeted for takeover by the Ontario-based Algonquin Power and Utilities Corp.
The unsolicited Algonquin bid of $2.50 in cash or cash and shares was nearly double the previous market price for the Vancouver-headquartered company but only half of what independent consultants have estimated Western Wind’s value to be.
“It’s an insult to the people who built this company and the shareholders who believe in its future,” said Ciachurski.
“It was a low ball offer and we advised our shareholders to ignore it…we said thanks but no thanks,” said Ciachurski, who is now reigning in large shareholders of his company with lucrative propositions so they won’t fall prey to private offers for their stake in Western Wind.
As the war of press releases on who pulled the plug on the deal goes on between Algonquin Power and Western Wind Energy, one thing is clear – this won’t be the last time that mega-renewable energy companies are going to be knocking on Ciachurski’s door.
“I know there will be others wanting to cash in our success, but I’d rather be building wind farms,” added Ciachurski, whose Western Wind Energy Corp. was recognized by the Toronto Stock Exchange as a TSX Venture top 50 Company in 2010.