Price competition in the wind industry is intensifying as the market transitions to auction-based schemes from payment support regimes, such as feed-in tariffs, leading to a “squeeze” across the entire value chain, according to a new report by Navigant Consulting.
Developers and turbine manufacturers are finding the marketplace more challenging, but are also finding ways to improve efficiency and reduce the levelized cost of energy, the ‘World Wind Energy Market Update 2018’ report said.
“While challenging, these competitive policy environments will usher in more wind capacity at higher growth rates and introduce wind into markets that historically have not been willing to embrace wind power,” Navigant said.
It added that 2017 was a transition year for the industry, with 51.9GW of new capacity installed globally compared with 54.3GW the previous year.
Total wind capacity stood at 538.3GW by the end of last year, the report said.
Image: Free Images/Christian Wagner
Wind price pressure ‘intensifies’
By EBS