Total global wind power installed capacity at the end of 2016 was nearly 487,000 megawatts, a one-year gain of just over 54,600 megawatts for the year, according to the Global Wind Energy Council. Leading the turbine manufacturers with 8,700 megawatts of new installed onshore capacity is Denmark’s Vestas, followed by General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) with newly installed onshore capacity of 6,500 megawatts.
China’s Xinjiang Goldwind Science & Technology was third with 6,400 megawatts of new onshore turbines in 2016, and Spain’s Gamesa installed 3,700 megawatts to finish fourth in the rankings. Rounding out the top 10 were Enercon, Nordex Group, Guodian, Siemens, Ming Yang and Envision.
Offshore wind installations totaled a mere 832 megawatts in 2016, far below the 4,200 megawatts installed in 2015. The top turbine supplier to offshore wind power producers was China’s Sewind, which manufactures Siemens turbines under license in China. Of the company’s total installations of 489 megawatts, 388 megawatts were Siemens turbines. Siemens, which installed 152 megawatts of offshore capacity last year, was ranked second to Sewind. GE ranked sixth with 30 megawatts, behind Goldwind, Envision and XEMC.
The data were reported Wednesday by Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF), which noted that consolidation has become the watchword in wind power. Noting that Nordex returned to the top 10 listing of onshore installations as a result of the company’s merger with Acciona, BNEF’s David Hostert said:
This year’s ranking shows why 2016 was all about mergers in the turbine-maker sector. There is now a strong breakaway group of three companies at the front, with a fairly tight field following. The upcoming merger of Siemens Wind and Gamesa will allow the joined company to catch up and create a ‘big four’ group of dominant manufacturers. Staying at the front of this pack will require both significant size and a balanced presence in the right markets.
GE installed 4,400 megawatts in the Americas last year, beating out Vestas’s total of 4,300 megawatts. Gamesa (1,400 megawatts), Siemens (1,000 megawatts), Nordex (600 megawatts) and Enercon (300 megawatts) also installed new turbines in the Americas. Goldwind installed all 6,400 of its new turbines in China, while Ming Yang and Envision both installed all their new turbines in China.
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