Chinese wind turbine giants assert dominance after surpassing Western rivals: WoodMac

China’s wind turbine giants are now enjoying historic dominance over their Western rivals, pushing Siemens Gamesa and GE out of top spots for market share globally, according to new Wood Mackenzie analysis.

Chinese OEMs now account for four of the top five turbine makers globally, in what energy consultancy WoodMac describes as “a first for the sector.”

Goldwind defended its position as the leading turbine supplier globally, with 16.3GW of capacity installed in 2023, said WoodMac.

Envision blew past Denmark’s Vestas, which had for a long time been the industry pace-setter, into second place, with 14.1GW of installed capacity.

That saw Vestas, with 11.5GW of installed capacity last year, down slightly on 11.8GW in 2022, drop down to third in the ranking.

Windey and Mingyang have both now moved into the top five OEMs, on 10.1GW and 9.9GW, respectively.

Siemens Gamesa dropped from 4th to 6th, with 9.7GW of installed capacity, up from 9.3GW in 2022.

GE suffered a particularly poor 2023, with the number of its turbines installed dropping almost 3GW, from 10.1GW in 2022 to 7.2GW. It fell from 3rd to 8th in the WoodMac rankings.

Overall, WoodMac said the market remained consolidated with 54% of the global wind markets held by the top five OEMs.

“China’s first batch of massive renewable bases have a 2024 deadline on the horizon which has accelerated installations to an unprecedented pace of 74.7GW," said Endri Lico, principal analyst at Wood Mackenzie.

“This combined with a mature supply chain and ambitious provincial targets are pushing wind deployment to an unprecedented level in China.”

China saw a record 67.8GW of onshore capacity installed last year. It also saw 7GW of new offshore installed, an increase of 41% year-on-year, said WoodMac.

This helped drive six Chinese OEMs into the global top 10 rankings.

The country’s record installations, backed by more than 100GW of new wind turbine orders in 2023, have not however shielded local OEMs from reducing profitability, said WoodMac.

Intense competition between 14 different Chinese OEMs in 2023 saw turbine prices cut by 16% and 9% in onshore and offshore, respectively.

Although Chinese turbine makers consolidated their hold on the top spots in the ranking, their global market share dropped slightly from 70% in 2022 to 65% last year.

Western manufacturers have meanwhile been “pressured by market slowdown,” said WoodMac, leading to them suffering a “disappointing year.”

“Companies across Europe and the Americas suffered financial losses in a stalling wind market that plateaued at 40GW capacity installed, a 3% drop year-on-year, which is the lowest year since the Covid-19 pandemic,” the report said.

Lico said Western OEMs had “practiced commercial discipline, showing little appetite for price reduction to grow market share.”

Last year saw “some improvement in financial performance as some of the supply chain disruptions eased,” but he said quality and reliability issues have “emerged as another source of instability for western OEMs.”