Vestas extended its market share of turbines commissioned to 22% in 2018, up from 16% in 2017, according to data from Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF).
Just over 10GW of Vestas-made onshore turbines were commissioned globally in 2018, BNEF said.
China’s Goldwind rose from third to second place, lifted by a strong performance on home soil, where it captured one-third of the 19.3GW market.
However, only 5% of Goldwind’s 6.7GW was commissioned outside China.
GE came third with 5GW. According to BNEF six out of every 10 GE turbines were commissioned in the US.
Both GE and Vestas commissioned just over 3GW in the US, with Vestas leading by 44MW in the neck-to-neck race for market leadership in the country.
Siemens Gamesa fell from second to fourth place, with 4.1GW commissioned in 2018, 40% less than in 2017.
However, the tally does not include several partially built wind farms that will not come online until this year.
BNEF senior wind analyst Tom Harries said: “Chinese manufacturers rely almost solely on their home market.
“Of the European onshore wind turbine makers to make the top 10, Vestas and Nordex actually commissioned more capacity in the Americas than in Europe.”
According to Harries, most of Enercon’s turbines are in Europe, while Siemens Gamesa is the most diversified, with a near equal split across Europe, the Americas and Asia.
“In offshore wind, it’s been a record year for China, and we will see more growth,” Harries said.
“Some 1.7GW of the global 4.3GW was commissioned there. In Europe it was a tight race between Siemens Gamesa and MHI Vestas. GE has some projects coming up in France, and we also expect to see orders for their new 12MW platform,” he said.
Total onshore wind installations in 2018 were 11.7GW in the Americas, 8.5GW in Europe and 1GW in Africa and the Middle East, while Asia accounted for 24.2GW.
BNEF registered new wind farms starting full commercial operation in 53 countries.
BNEF head of wind research David Hostert said: “Now it is time for the manufacturers to buckle up for two stormy years ahead: we predict demand for around 60GW of onshore capacity in both 2019 and 2020 with increases in all regions.
“However, a lot of this impressive-sounding volume rides on extremely competitive pricing, add-on products and services, and new financing models. This will be tough to deliver for the ‘Big Four’, let alone the smaller turbine makers.”