New wind turbines have boosted their power ratings by almost three-quarters over the last decade to grow to an average 2.75MW for machines installed last year, said a new industry report.
The rated power for new turbines entering the worldwide fleet in 2019 marks a 72% increase on the 1.6MW average level seen in 2009, said the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) in its latest market update.
Ever-larger offshore wind turbines pushed the average new turbine size above 5MW in some markets, such as the UK and Denmark, GWEC added.
The demand for more powerful machines to drive down cost-of-energy has seen major OEMs over the last 18 months unveil models in the 5MW+ arena onshore, and as large as 14MW offshore – the latter as recently as last week when Siemens Gamesa took the wraps off the world’s largest wind turbine so far.
The US market saw its average turbine size grow to 2.55MW last year, according to earlier data from The American Wind Energy Association, with 3MW+ turbines capturing a quarter of the market.
GWEC’s Supply Side Analysis 2019 report also confirms Vestas as the global number-one turbine supplier for another year with an 18% share, with Siemens Gamesa at 15.7% and up to second thanks to its burgeoning offshore business. China’s Goldwind was third.
In total 22,893 wind turbines were installed globally in 2019, made by 33 suppliers – down from 37 in 2018 – as the top-six vendors grabbed 72% of the market, said the industry body.
Feng Zhao, strategy director of GWEC , said: “More than 63GW [of] wind power capacity was delivered and installed based on supply side data in 2019, a new record for the industry. 2020 was forecast to be another record-breaking year, however, disruption of the global supply chain and delays on wind project execution has forced major stakeholders in the wind industry to withdraw their 2020 financial and production guidance as well as adjust their market outlook for the year.”
1. Vestas – 18.0%
2. Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy – 15.7%
3. Goldwind – 13.2 %
4. GE Renewable Energy – 11.6%
5. Envision – 8.6%
6. Ming Yang – 5.7%
7. Nordex Acciona – 4.9%
8. Enercon – 3.0%
9. Windey – 2.5%
10. Dongfang – 2.1%
Source: GWEC
