Vestas overtook Siemens Gamesa as the wind turbine manufacturer with the most capacity installed globally in 2018, according to a new report from Navigant Research.
In 2018 Vestas turbines accounted for 10.4GW of capacity installed, about a fifth of global capacity installed last year, the study found.
The ‘Market Data: Global Wind Turbine OEM Market Share’ report, which tracks wind turbine manufacturer market distribution and share by region and country, found global installed wind power capacity decreased year-to-year from 52GW to 50.6GW, due to increased competition from solar and a transition to more challenging market-based competitive incentives for the wind market.
The study tracks wind turbine original equipment manufacturers’ (OEM) market distributions and market shares by region and country and includes Chinese and non-Chinese OEM comparisons.
Navigant research analyst Jesse Broehl said: “The top 10 global rankings reflect increasingly competitive market dynamics among OEMs and various country markets.
“Beyond the top overall global rankings, there is intense competition among a handful of OEMs in the top global markets.”
The study found that while the Chinese turbine manufacturers install “an impressive number of wind turbines each year, the capacity is almost exclusively in China.”
As the industry plateaus in certain countries, Vestas is among some turbine manufacturers “responding to the shifting market dynamics better than others,” according to the report.
Only a few Chinese OEMs install outside of China, and the capacity is minimal despite years of internationalisation efforts, Navigant found.
“A key part of the current industry focus is on shifting market shares in many countries where top companies like Vestas, Siemens Gamesa, GE Renewable Energy, Nordex, Enercon, and others are all competing for business,” stated the report.
For example, GE Renewable Energy retook the lead in the US from Vestas, which had surpassed it the year before. Vestas, however, took the top position in more leading country markets in 2018 over its other rivals, the study found.
The study analysed specific competitive countries for turbine OEMs, whose success relies on vast diversification among many global markets versus reliance on only one or a few markets.
Data presented includes the top three to five wind turbine OEMs in each of the top 10 country markets for 2018.
Average wind turbine size in top country markets is assessed, along with average wind turbine rotor diameters by turbine manufacturer and by top country markets.
The report also provides data on the top selling wind turbine western manufacturers in 2018.