Vestas maintains grip on global wind turbine market as 61GW of capacity was commissioned

Danish wind turbine manufacturer Vestas Wind Systems maintained its grip on the global wind turbine market in 2019, retaining its ranking as the world’s leading wind turbine manufacturer as the overall market grew by 22 per cent to 61GW.

Bloomberg New Energy Finance published Global Wind Turbine Market Shares report for 2019 on Tuesday, which showed the strong growth in 2019 was thanks in large part to bumper commissioning in China and the United States and a continued acceleration of offshore wind projects.

BNEF expects a further 24% jump in 2020 with an estimated 75GW to be installed this year.

“2020 is set to be another strong year for installations in China and the U.S., as developers rush to build before subsidies lapse, but uncertainty post-2020 could expose some bigger players unless they diversify to new growth markets,” said Oliver Metcalfe, wind analyst at BNEF and lead author of the report 2019 Global Wind Turbine Market Shares.

Total onshore wind additions in 2019 saw 13.3GW added in the Americas, 9GW in Europe, and 500 MW in the Africa and Middle East (AME) region. Unsurprisingly, considering China’s dominance, the Asia Pacific region accounted for 30.4GW.

A concentration of wind turbine manufacturers continues to dominate figures, with the top four manufacturers accounting for 55% of all machines deployed in 2019. Vestas continued its march as the world’s leading wind turbine manufacturer, followed by Spain’s Siemens Gamesa, China’s Goldwind, and the United States’ General Electric (GE).

Figure 1: Top 10 global wind turbine makers, 2019

Source: BloombergNEF. Notes: Total fully commissioned wind capacity in 2019 was 60.7GW. MHI Vestas capacity is not attributed to Vestas – organisations must own more than 50% of a subsidiary to receive credit. Top ten in 2018: 1) Vestas 2) Goldwind 3) SGRE 4) GE 5) Envision 6) Enercon 7) Ming Yang 8) Nordex 9) Guodian UP 10) MHI Vestas

A busy offshore wind year for Siemens Gamesa propelled it from fourth to second place, while the United States provided strength to both Siemens Gamesa and GE. GE outperformed Vestas in the US commissioning 40% more than it had in 2018, while Vestas installation total remained stable.

Siemens Gamesa, however, benefited the most from wind energy’s strength in the US, tripling its 2018 numbers in the country and taking over third place, while BNEF explained that the company’s “offshore installations in European waters blew its competition away.

The company retains the number one position in the offshore wind market after more than doubling its installations compared with 2018.” Specifically, Siemens Gamesa commissioned almost 2GW in the UK alone – including the 1.2GW Hornsea Project One offshore wind project.

“Underpinning each of the leading onshore players is a strong presence in either the U.S. or China,” said Metcalfe.

Figure 2: Top 10 global onshore wind turbine makers, 2019

Source: BloombergNEF. Notes: Total fully commissioned onshore wind capacity in 2019 was 53.2GW. Top ten in 2018: 1) Vestas 2) Goldwind 3) GE 4) SGRE 5) Envision 6) Enercon 7) Ming Yang 8) Nordex 9) Guodian UP 10) Windey

“This bumper year for offshore wind is just the start,” added Tom Harries, head of wind research at BNEF. “If you look past a likely blip in 2020, installations are set to accelerate, breaking the 10GW-a-year barrier in 2023. This growth outlook has led to intense competition between turbine makers.

“At the moment, the advantage lies with the manufacturer selling the most powerful turbine.

Industrializing the production of a slightly smaller turbine through higher volumes could lower costs and prices. The opportunities for turbine makers to offset lower prices with long-term maintenance contracts is less clear than it is in onshore wind.”