Vestas takes global lead in wind turbine manufacturing

Wind energy consultancy MAKE Consulting (Chicago, IL, US) reports that Vestas has won the top position in its top 15 global rankings, according to MAKE’s Global Wind Turbine OEM 2016 Market Share analysis. The pure-play turbine OEM added 8.7 GW across 36 markets in 2016, beating runner-up GE by nearly 3 percentage points, the largest differential between the top two spots in the ranking since 2013.

According to the report, western turbine OEMs accounted for four of the top five positions and seven positions overall in the top 15 global rankings. Outside of China, western turbine OEMs capitalized on markets with big years of new capacity, including the US, India and Germany. Key differentiators for western turbine OEMs included market diversification and commercialisation of larger-rated turbine models.

MAKE says performance in the offshore sector remained an important differentiator, particularly for Siemens, but it did not have the same overall impact as in 2015 since the global market size of additional annual offshore capacity dropped 32% YoY. However, Siemens accounted for 68% of global offshore capacity, and Sewind’s offshore achievements in China helped bolster the Chinese OEM’s position in the regional rankings.

Vestas led all turbine OEMs in terms of geographic diversity with significant capacity added in each region. The top seven western turbine OEMs added capacity in an average of 21 markets in 2016, compared to an average of two markets apiece for Chinese turbine OEMs.

A lack of geographic diversity continues to expose Chinese turbine OEMs to fluctuations in the size of annual capacity additions in the China market. As a result of less new capacity installed in China YoY, the seven Chinese turbine OEMs in the top 15 global ranking added nearly 500 MW less capacity YoY. This kept six of the seven Chinese turbine OEMs from maintaining the same position or caused them to drop position in the ranking YoY. CSIC Haizhuang was the only Chinese turbine OEM to improve its position YoY and incidentally was the only Chinese OEM to record more annual capacity in 2016 than in 2015.

Four markets globally had an oversized impact on positioning within the ranking in 2016: China, the US, Germany and India. Turbine OEMs in the top 15 that were unable to capitalize on growth in these markets experienced the most significant swings in percentage-point changes YoY. Vestas posted the largest YoY change in market share percentage points (+2.9), followed by GE with +2.3 percentage points. Gamesa and Suzlon in India and Nordex Group and Enercon in Germany rounded out the leading turbine OEMs with more than a percentage point change in share YoY. Of the Chinese turbine OEMs, only CSIC Haizhuang and Goldwind had a positive change YoY, with a 0.3 and a 0.2 percentage point increase, respectively, in global market share.

Vestas claimed the top spot in the global ranking for consecutive years. Vestas also maintained the top spot in the cumulative ranking, with a 4 percentage point lead over GE, which came in second in the cumulative ranking. Vestas added capacity in 36 markets in 2016, 13 markets more than any other turbine OEM. Vestas captured the top spot exclusively with onshore growth.

GE returned to the second position globally after losing the spot to Goldwind last year. It held on to the top spot in the US, albeit by a thin margin, and continued to control the Brazilian market. In addition to winning the Americas region, GE posted record years in Germany and India and otherwise capitalized on demand for its 2MW platform. It installed the first offshore turbines in the Americas market to complement its onshore focus.

Goldwind fell to the third position globally, with 7% less new capacity YoY, but had a tremendous year in China relative to its compatriots. It out-paced the next closest OEM in China by more than 4.5 GW, as no other Chinese turbine OEM installed more than 2 GW in 2016 compared to 6.4 GW for Goldwind. It added modest capacity in the US as well as capacity in Pakistan and Thailand, but collectively, it installed less capacity overseas YoY, which did not help offset a smaller market in China.

Gamesa jumped one position in 2016, beating its new associate, Siemens, for the fourth position in the global rankings. Remarkably, Gamesa won the second position in Asia-Pacific, largely due to their leading position in India with 1.5 GW added, as well as a big year in the China market. Although Gamesa continues to add less new capacity YoY in Europe, it has more than made up for the decline with success in the Americas, namely in Brazil, the US, Chile and Mexico.

Siemens fell to the fifth spot globally in 2016, as it installed less new capacity onshore and offshore compared to 2015. Although it dominated the offshore sector, namely in Germany and the Netherlands, it added 30% less capacity onshore in 2016 than in 2015, as it was unable to capitalize on growth in the four main onshore markets. Its largest onshore markets included the US, Turkey and the UK.

MAKE’s Top 10 global wind turbine OEM rankings are as follows:

1. Vestas
2. GE
3. Goldwind
4. Gamesa
5. Siemens
6. Enercon
7. Nordex Group
8. United Power
9. Mingyang
10. Envision

MAKE’s Global Wind Turbine OEM 2016 Market Share report is a 36-page report that provides a comprehensive analysis of the competitive positioning of the world’s leading turbine OEMs from a global, regional and countrywide perspective. The report provides comparative market share analysis for 2015 and 2016, and cumulative grid-connected installations in the major sub-regions of the Americas, Europe, and Asia-Pacific, along with analysis of 21 countries across the globe. MAKE’s market share analysis is based upon grid-connected capacity, with the exception of China, which is analyzed on the basis of mechanically erected capacity for turbine OEMs operating in that market.