Global wind industry commissions 100 GW of turbines in 2020: BNEF

The global wind market commissioned about 100 gigawatt (GW) of new wind turbines in 2020, up 59 per cent to 96.3 GW as compared to 60.7 per cent in 2019, according to a recent report by BloombergNEF (BNEF).

It added that the installations grew year-on-year undeterred by the coronavirus pandemic and 94 per cent of these were on land, as the addition of new turbines at sea fell to 6.1 gigawatts – a 19 per cent drop compared to 2019.

General Electric (GE), Vestas, Goldwind, and Envision all commissioned over 10 gigawatts last year, which was more than half of the machines deployed, as the gap widened between the leading manufacturers and smaller players, BNEF said in a press release.

The report added that GE and Goldwind were the top two turbine suppliers in 2020, following a surge in installations in the US and China. Vestas, which placed first for four years, fell to third place in the 2020 ranking.

“GE and Goldwind claimed the top two spots in this year’s ranking by concentrating on the largest markets. This strategy may not be as fruitful in 2021 as subsidies lapse in those areas,” said Isabelle Edwards, wind associate at BNEF and lead author of the 2020 Global Wind Turbine Market Shares report.

Edwards added that Vestas takes on less market risk, with turbines commissioned in 34 countries last year.

The report said that GE increased its onshore installations by 6.6 GW year-on-year. While China accounted for 98 per cent of the capacity commissioned by Chinese turbine makers. China commissioned 57.8 GW of new wind capacity last year, it added.

“While every region commissioned more wind capacity than the year prior, the unprecedented growth observed in 2020 should be credited to the Chinese wind market. Nearly every turbine maker is now selling turbines into China, and in 2020 it was the second-largest market for both GE and Vestas,” said Edwards.

According to Leo Wang, Beijing-based wind associate at BNEF, over 20 turbine makers supplied wind turbines to China and many of them were able to double or triple their year-on year installed capacity.

He added that the expiring onshore and offshore subsidies fuelled the uptick in installations. Following the lapse of onshore feed-in premiums, the market was likely to see demand drop this year.