China’s Goldwind becomes world’s largest wind turbine supplier

A Chinese wind turbine manufacturer has become the world’s largest supplier of wind turbines for the first time, displacing the Danish supplier Vestas from its long-held top spot.

Various intelligence and market information firms put Goldwind at the top of the list of wind turbine original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), with Vestas coming second. FTI Energy Intelligence, in its Global Wind Market Update – Demand & Supply 2015 report, puts GE in third place – a placement partly driven by the company’s acquisition of Alstom. In FTI’s ranking Siemens fell two positions in 2015 to fourth place, and Gamesa jumped three positions to reach fifth place.

FTI says that Goldwind’s prolific year reflects the extraordinary growth seen in the Chinese wind market in 2015, where around 30 GW of capacity was added – nearly half of the total global wind market. Four other Chinese companies are in FTI’s top ten list.

According to IHS Energy, which did a similar analysis, less than 3% of Goldwind’s installed capacity was in markets outside China – underscoring Chinese manufacturers’ continued dependence on their home market.

Industry data analyst GlobalData says that in 2015 Goldwind installed 7.7 GW worth of turbines – and that expected adjustments to the feed-in tariff for wind in China have helped to boost this development. GlobalData says that Vestas installed 7.3 GW of capacity in 2015.

Siemens remains the leader in offshore turbines with 2 GW of offshore installations in the UK and Germany in 2015 – around 75% of the offshore wind market.

As we reported in last month’s Energy World, wind capacity additions worldwide in 2015 were around 63 GW – a 20% increase on 2014 installations. The load factors of these wind farms will vary depending on location.