According to its second edition of its annual 'Supply Side Analysis 2019' report, the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) reports that in 2019 a new supply side record, in terms of capacity for the wind energy industry, was set, with 22 893 wind turbines being installed internationally.

These wind turbines were produced from 33 suppliers and account for over 63 GW of capacity.

The report also shows that wind turbine producer Vestas continues to hold on to its place as top supplier, having accounted for 18% of all wind turbines installed in 2019. This is a result of the company’s international diversification strategy with installations in more than 40 countries.

Another producer, Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy, also moved up one position to second place, with the supplier having doubled its offshore wind installation in 2019 and expanding its geographic coverage.

Producer, Goldwind fell one position to third place despite the company increasing its yearly installations by 19% in 2019 owing to an increase in installations in its home market, China.

Further, of the top 15 wind turbine suppliers in 2019, ten installed offshore wind turbines in 2019, accounting for 99.9% of the record 6.1 GW of offshore wind capacity.

The GWEC report also points to 2019 being the first time a purely offshore wind supplier, MHI Vestas, broke into the international top fifteen positions. GWEC notes that this demonstrates the increasingly important role that the offshore industry is playing to drive wind power growth.

GE Renewable Energy and Envision remain in the fourth and fifth positions, respectively, in terms of international market share, both showing increases as a result of installation rushes in their home markets of the US and China.

Other manufactures, Mingyang and Nordex Acciona also benefited from these installation rushes, both moving up one position to sixth and seventh place respectively. 

Producer Enercon dropped by two positions to eighth place in 2019, primarily owing to a significant decline in installations in its home market, Germany, while Windey entered the top ten for the first time ever as the supplier doubled its installations in China, moving up four positions to ninth place.

Rounding out the top fifteen wind turbine suppliers in 2019 are Chinese suppliers Dongfang, Sewind, CSIC Haizhuang and United Power, along with German supplier Senvion, and the Danish-Japanese joint venture MHI Vestas.

RAPIDLY EVOLVING

Meanwhile, GWEC CEO Ben Backwell says the wind energy sector is continuing to see market consolidation for turbine suppliers internationally, with the number of suppliers having declined from 37 in 2018 to 33 in 2019.

“At the same time, the top six turbine vendors collectively increased their market share from 70% in 2018, to 72% in 2019.”

Within this competitive landscape, he says current trends favour companies that shift from being solely manufacturers to evolving into holistic systems and solution providers to enable greater market diversification.

Backwell explains that the wind sector is a leader in innovation and technology.

“It can clearly be seen in the impressive increases in turbine sizes. In 2019, the average turbine size surpassed 2 750 kW, and in some markets like Denmark and the UK, turbines passed the 5 000 kW milestone thanks to offshore wind development.”

This, he says, is a 72% increase in average turbine size in the past decade alone, and is a testament to the industry’s leadership in technology innovation and the maturity of the global sector.

However, this year will be different, owing to Covid-19 disruptions. GWEC strategy director Feng Zhao notes that this year had initially looked set to be another record year, but that this has changed.

“Disruption of the global supply chain and delays on wind project execution have forced major stakeholders in the wind industry to withdraw their 2020 financial and production guidance, as well as adjust their market outlook for the year.”

He adds that in 2019, eight Chinese turbine vendors were included in the top fifteen supplier ranking, but the top two spots were held by European suppliers Vestas and Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy.

“With the Covid-19 crisis now disrupting supply chains, manufacturing and project execution internationally, it is likely that these rankings will shift in 2020 depending on how quickly countries and businesses can recover from the pandemic.”