Global wind turbine order intake hit new highs last year with 155GW of capacity snapped up and both the Chinese and Western markets breaking records, according to a new Wood Mackenzie report.
The capacity ordered represents a 16GW increase from 2022, while annual investment reached an estimated $83bn, the energy consultancy said in its report released today (Monday).
Developers in China ordered approximately 100GW in 2023, “the largest annual order intake on record.”
It marks consecutive years of at least 90GW of order intake in the country. Onshore demand from China’s wind bases has driven most of this growth.
Western markets contributed with record order intake levels last year, adding a record-breaking 55GW.
“A record haul outside of China in Q4 and a near doubling of order capacity in North America throughout 2023 helped continue market recovery for Western markets, with a 26% increase in order intake year-on-year,” said Luke Lewandowski, vice president, global renewables research at WoodMac.
Global intake for offshore wind decreased by 61% in Q4 of 2023, a 3.1GW drop year-on-year, and 7.2% overall, a fall of 1.5GW year-on-year, WoodMac found.
This decrease was “counterbalanced” by an increase in global onshore wind orders, up 4.2GW (+11%) in Q4 year-on-year and 17.7GW (+15%) for the full year.
In total, developers globally ordered 19GW of offshore wind turbine capacity in 2023.
“Despite high-profile offtake cancellations and industry headwinds for offshore wind, firm order intake for the offshore sector tripled for markets outside China in 2023,” said Lewandowski
“A 56% drop in orders from China due to a pause in procurement decisions resulted in a modest drop globally from the record set in 2022.”
The leading OEM for turbine sales was China’s Envision Energy, which took in 22GW of orders. WoodMac also recently found that Envision was dominating its Chinese peers when it came to international orders.
Denmark’s Vestas had the next highest total, 19GW, with another Chinese giant, Goldwind, close behind on 18GW.
Vestas led all OEMs in Q4 for the second quarter in a row with 8GW, powered by 5GW of orders in the US, including for the huge SunZia project with Pattern Energy.
