Wind Turbine Manufacturers See Record Year Driven by Growth in Home Markets
LAST YEAR, wind turbine manufacturers set a new volume record, installing 120.7 GW globally despite economic and supply chain challenges, as per GWEC’s report. Chinese companies dominated the market, with Goldwind leading, followed by Envision and Vestas.
While Chinese firms held top positions, 97% of their installations were in China, with only 2.3 GW installed elsewhere, primarily in Asia.
Vestas, Siemens Gamesa, Nordex Group, GE Vernova and Enercon, remained the top five turbine suppliers in Europe, in 2023. Globally, Vestas fell two positions from 2022 to 3rd place, although with wind turbines installed in 36 countries the Danish OEM remains the most geographically diverse.
In terms of total global cumulative wind turbine installations, Vestas, Siemens Gamesa and GE Vernova remained the world’s Top-3 wind turbine suppliers as of the end of 2023.
Ben Backwell, CEO of GWEC, said: “The data in this report paints a picture of a global industry that has entered a period of accelerated growth. However, that growth is concentrated in mature markets like China, the US and Germany. For wind energy to play its full role in the push to achieve Net Zero, growth needs to speed up across the globe, particularly in emerging and developing economies.
Top 10 wind turbine suppliers in 2023 Source: GWEC Market Intelligence, April 2024
“The wind industry can thrive globally if governments collaborate with industry to implement the energy transition through supportive, long-term policymaking and multilateral cooperation. Despite a record year for wind energy installations, we need to make faster progress to achieve climate goals, and make sure market conditions support a healthy global manufacturing supply chain. The industry is ready to work with its partners across the world to create conditions for long-term market growth and deliver the tripling of renewables agreed at COP28.
In 2023, 23,833 wind turbines were installed globally by 30 companies, with 19 from Asia-Pacific, 8 from Europe, 2 from America, and 1 from the Middle East. Main growth was driven by orders from China, the US, and Europe.
More than 120 GW capacity of wind turbine was installed worldwide in 2023. Two-thirds of this was supplied by Chinese companies.
Goldwind installed 16.7 GW of capacity last year, to become the number one supplier in 2023, with Envision moving up three positions to second place. Vestas fell two positions to 3rd place from 2022, although with wind turbines installed in 36 countries the Danish OEM’s new wind installations in 2023 increased by one percent compared with 2022. Windey and Mingyang occupy fourth and fifth place respectively, with the latter the world’s largest offshore wind turbine supplier in 2023.
Feng Zhao, Head of Strategy and Market Intelligence, GWEC, said: “More than 120 GW capacity of wind turbine was mechanically installed worldwide in 2023, of which two-thirds was delivered by Chinese wind turbine suppliers.
“Although fierce price competition in China has been driving Chinese turbine OEMS to pursue opportunities in the overseas markets since 2021, 97 per cent of their installations in 2023 are still in their home market.
“Vestas, Siemens Gamesa, Nordex Group, GE Vernova and Enercon remain the top five turbine suppliers in Europe, in 2023. Chinese OEMs only installed 194.1 MW of wind turbines in Europe last year, of which only 8.4 MW was in the EU27.”
“Of the top 3 western OEMs, Vestas and Siemens Gamesa reported 155 MW and 3 MW installations in China in 2023, respectively, together accounting for only 0.2 per cent of the new installations in the world’s largest wind market.”
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Source: Global Wind Energy Council
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