VESTAS KEEPS LEAD IN ONSHORE WIND, SIEMENS GAMESA NARROWS GAP
Global commissioning of onshore wind turbines fell 12% in 2017, partly due to a slowdown in China, but is expected to bounce back 17% to 55GW in 2018
London, New York and Tokyo, February 26, 2018 – Developers commissioned just under 47GW of onshore wind turbines globally in 2017, with four manufacturers accounting for 53% of the machines deployed. The four were Denmark’s Vestas, Spain’s Siemens Gamesa, China’s Goldwind and General Electric of the U.S.
The latest authoritative figures from Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) show that Vestas – number one in 2016 – maintained the top spot, with 7.7GW of its onshore turbines commissioned, equivalent to a global market share of 16%. The statistics draw on BNEF’s global database of utility-scale wind projects and extensive information from the industry.
Siemens Gamesa, formed in 2016 from a merger of the wind business of German engineering giant Siemens and the Spanish turbine maker Gamesa, came second in onshore turbines, with 6.8GW commissioned. It lifted its market share from the 11% that its two predecessor companies held in 2016, to 15% last year. Goldwind saw 5.4GW commissioned and GE 4.9GW, equivalent to market shares of 11% and 10%, respectively.
Tom Harries, senior wind analyst at BNEF and lead author of the report, Global Wind Turbine Market Shares, said: “In 2017, quite a bit of distance opened up between GE in fourth place and the fifth-placed manufacturer, Germany’s Enercon, with 3.1GW. Six other turbine makers, from Europe and China, had between 1GW and 3GW commissioned last year.
“In offshore wind, it was a very different story, with Siemens Gamesa continuing to be by far the biggest supplier globally, with 2.7GW commissioned, and other players such as Sewind of China, MHI Vestas and Senvion of Germany back at around half a gigawatt each,” he added.
There are some stark differences between the big manufacturers in terms of their regional footprint. More than 90% of Goldwind’s commissioned turbines, for instance, were in projects in China in 2017, while almost all of Enercon’s went online in Europe. General Electric was much stronger in the Americas than elsewhere, while Vestas and Siemens Gamesa saw significant commissioning of their onshore devices in all three regions – Europe, Middle East and Africa, the Americas and Asia-Oceania.
The capacity of onshore wind turbines commissioned in 2017 was 12% down from 2016’s total of 53.1GW. Bloomberg New Energy Finance puts this down to a slowdown in China and predicts a rebound to 55GW in 2018, as the Chinese market returns to growth and Latin America continues its expansion.
Albert Cheung, head of analysis at BNEF, commented: “We’ve seen a wave of mergers in the wind turbine manufacturing industry in the last few years, including the Siemens-Gamesa deal and Nordex’s takeover of Acciona Windpower. With a large number of small players outside the Big Four, it would be no surprise to see further consolidation.”
ABOUT BLOOMBERG NEW ENERGY FINANCE
Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) is an industry research firm focused on helping energy professionals generate opportunities. With a team of 200 experts spread across six continents, BNEF provides independent analysis and insight, enabling decision-makers to navigate change in an evolving energy economy.
Leveraging the most sophisticated new energy data sets in the world, BNEF synthesizes proprietary data into astute narratives that frame the financial, economic and policy implications of emerging energy technologies.
Bloomberg New Energy Finance is powered by Bloomberg’s global network of 19,000 employees in 176 locations, reporting 5,000 news stories a day. Visit https://about.bnef.com/ or request more information.
ABOUT BLOOMBERG
Bloomberg, the global business and financial information and news leader, gives influential decision makers a critical edge by connecting them to a dynamic network of information, people and ideas. The company’s strength – delivering data, news and analytics through innovative technology, quickly and accurately – is at the core of the Bloomberg Terminal. Bloomberg’s enterprise solutions build on the company’s core strength: leveraging technology to allow customers to access, integrate, distribute and manage data and information across organizations more efficiently and effectively. For more information, visit Bloomberg.com/company or request a demo.
###
