The global wind energy industry set a new supply record in 2019, with 22 893 wind turbines installed produced from 33 suppliers and accounting for over 63GW of capacity.
This is according to the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC), which published the second edition of its annual Supply Side Analysis 2019 this week.
The report says Danish manufacturer Vestas continued to hold on to its place as top supplier in 2019, accounting for 18% of all wind turbines installed in 2019, thanks to its global diversification strategy, with installations in more than 40 countries.
In SA, wind energy body the South African Wind Energy Association says the country is targeting to build at least 17 wind farms per year over the next 10 years.
GWEC notes Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy moved up one position to second place, with the supplier doubling its offshore wind installations in 2019 and expanding its geographic coverage.
Goldwind fell one position to third place despite the company increasing its annual installations by 19% in 2019 due to an installation rush in its home market, China, GWEC says.
Of the top 15 wind turbine suppliers in 2019, 10 installed offshore wind turbines last year, accounting for 99.9% of the record 6.1GW of offshore wind capacity installed in 2019.
“Last year was also the first time we saw a purely offshore wind supplier, MHI Vestas, break the global top 15, demonstrating the increasingly important role the offshore industry is playing to drive wind power growth,” says the council.
Ben Backwell, CEO of GWEC, says: “We are continuing to see market consolidation for turbine suppliers globally, with the number of suppliers declining 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, current trends favour companies that shift from being solely manufacturers to evolving into holistic systems and solution providers to allow for greater market diversification.
Backwell points out that the wind sector is a leader in innovation and technology, which can clearly be seen in the impressive increases in turbine sizes.
He says in 2019, the average turbine size surpassed 2 750kW and in some markets like Denmark and the UK, turbines passed the 5 000kW milestone thanks to offshore wind development.
“This is a 72% increase for average turbine size in the past decade alone, and is a testament to the industry’s leadership in technology innovation and maturity of the global sector,” says Backwell.
Feng Zhao, strategy director of GWEC, says: “More than 63GW wind power capacity was delivered and installed based on supply side data in 2019, a new record for the industry.
He adds that 2020 was forecast to be another record-breaking year; however, disruption of the global supply chain and delays in wind project execution 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.
“In 2019, eight Chinese turbine vendors were included in the top 15 supplier ranking, but the top two spots were held by European suppliers Vestas and Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy,” Zhao says.
“With the COVID-19 crisis now disrupting supply chains, manufacturing and project execution globally, it is likely these rankings will shift in 2020 depending on how quickly countries and businesses can recover from the pandemic,” he says.
According to the report, GE Renewable Energy and Envision remain in the fourth and fifth position, respectively, for global market share, both showing increases thanks to installation rushes in their home markets of US and China.
It notes Mingyang and Nordex Acciona also benefited from these installation rushes, both moving up one position to sixth and seventh place, respectively.
GWEC says Enercon dropped by two positions to eighth place in 2019, primarily due to a significant decline in installations in its home market, Germany.
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