For the fifth year in succession, Vestas retained its leadership as the world’s largest supplier of onshore and offshore wind turbines in 2020, according to a report by Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC).
Vestas could maintain its leadership due to its wide geographic diversification strategy, with new installations in 32 markets in 2020. The Danish manufacturer posted a strong performance in US, Australia, Brazil, Netherlands, France, Poland, Russia, and Norway, the report said.
GE Renewable Energy at #2
GE Renewable Energy moved up two positions from 2019 to the second place in 2020, mainly due to the explosive growth in its home market of the US and its strong position in Spain in 2020. Despite disruption caused by COVID-19 to local supply chains and project execution in the US, the American manufacturer reported more than 10 GW of installations at home last year, making it the number one supplier in the US the second year in a row.
Chinese companies at #3 and #4
Chinese Envision ranks fourth in 2020, moving up from the fifth position in 2019, by taking advantage of strong market growth in its home market, where more than 10 GW was installed by the company in a single year, a record for the company.
Siemens Gamesa falls to #5
Although Siemens Gamesa had installations in 31 markets in 2020, the manufacturer fell three positions from 2019 to fifth place. The company reported 8.7 GW of new installations in 2020, 1.2 GW lower than the previous year, primarily due to a relatively slow year of offshore wind in Europe. Nevertheless, Siemens Gamesa retains its title as the world’s largest offshore wind turbine supplier in 2020.
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US and China lead in 2020
“Our preliminary findings from the supply side confirm that 2020 was an incredible year for the wind industry. Chinese and American turbine manufacturers had a record of new installations that saw most of them moving up in global turbine OEM market rankings,” said Feng Zhao, Head of Strategy and Market Intelligence at GWEC. “This makes sense as it reflects the situation that the world’s two largest markets China and the United States had the lion’s share in global wind installation in 2020.”
Detailed report in April 2021
These rankings will be published in the “Global Wind Market Development ― Supply-Side Data 2020”, which will be released in late April 2021. Preliminary results are subject to change between now and the release date of the actual report. The report is part of GWEC’s Market Intelligence series that provide insights and data-based analysis on the development of the global wind industry.
(Featured photograph shows Vestas’ V112 3MW wind turbine deployed at the Macathur wind farm in Australia. Photo: Vestas)
