Vestas became the first wind turbine manufacturer to install more than 10GW of wind capacity in a single year in 2019, according to new analysis from Wood Mackenzie.
The Danish manufacturer installed 11.3GW last year, an increase of 1.5GW on 2018, across more than 35 markets, the analyst said.
Installations in the Americas contributed more than 50% of capacity for the first time, driven by growth in the US, Mexico and Argentina.
Wood Mackenzie said that Siemens Gamesa climbed to second position, dominating the 1.9GW UK offshore market and achieving over 1GW of onshore installations in the US and Spain.
GE grew its global presence, connecting projects in 24 markets, and totalling 8.7GW, a 60% increase on 2018.
The manufacturer had its first-ever turbine installations in Greece, Oman, Jordan, Kazakhstan and Chile, Wood Mackenzie said.
Wood Mackenzie principal analyst Shashi Barla said: “The top five turbine OEMs – Vestas, SGRE, GE, Goldwind and Envision – increased their combined market share by 10% from two years ago, capturing 68% of global capacity.”
Chinese outfit MingYang grew its market share by nearly three percentage points.
The company doubled installations in China to 4.4GW, including record offshore activity of over 500MW driven by projects in Guangdong, the research found.
Barla said: “China’s big three OEMs – Goldwind, Envision and MingYang – each recorded their highest ever installs in 2019. This challenged the West’s big three – Vestas, GE and [Siemens Gamesa] – who also logged record installations last year.
“Supply constraints for China’s big three enabled tier II Chinese OEMs, such as Windey and CRRC, to make a surprise appearance in the global top 10 and top 15 rankings, respectively, for the first time.
“Despite eight Chinese OEMs ranking among the top 15 globally, only 0.6GW of wind turbine capacity was exported. This illustrates China’s heavy dependence on the domestic market.
“Smaller regional players, including Senvion, Suzlon, INOX, XEMC and WEG, lost market share due to challenging market conditions.
“This resulted in financial difficulties that will jeopardise their future participation in the wind sector.”
However, Wood Mackenzie warned that the coronavirus presents near-term hurdles for manufacturers.
Barla added: “Wind turbine OEMs with exposure to global wind turbine supply chain hubs including China, India and Spain will see a negative market share impact in 2020.
“This is primarily due to coronavirus lockdown measures that have obstructed manufacturing facilities in these countries.”