A Look at the Top Wind Turbine Manufacturers of 2015

In 2015, almost 29,000 wind turbines were installed globally by wind turbine OEMs, according to Guidehouse’s World Wind Energy Market Update 2016 report. Of the 41 OEMs supplying commercial-scale wind turbines, 28 of those companies are from Asia, 12 are from Europe, and one is from North America (GE). By the end of 2015, China remained the largest country in terms of the number of turbine OEMs that supplied wind turbines to the market, followed by India and Germany.

The strength of the U.S. market coupled with a major push from wind plant developers in China, Germany, and Poland to install capacity in 2015 before policy incentives adjusted downward in 2016 resulted in a record year of wind turbine installations. Additionally, healthy development and deployment continued in India, Brazil, Canada, and Turkey, as well as in some growing markets such as Mexico and South Africa. These trends also resulted in a shake-up among the top 10 wind turbine OEMs based on annual installed capacity. An overview of the 2015 rankings follows:

• Goldwind unseated longtime global leader Vestas to take the top slot for annual capacity. Ninety-eight percent of its installations were located in the Chinese market; the total Chinese market saw a record 30.2 GW of wind installed.
• Vestas had a record year, but capacity was not enough to surpass Goldwind’s leap to first place driven almost entirely by the massive Chinese market.
• GE Renewables held on to its third place position, backed by strength in its domestic market in the United States and Brazil, as well as increasing installations in Europe.
• Siemens fell two positions in the top ranking to fourth place despite nearly taking the top slot in 2014. However, the company’s 2015 offshore installations solidify its leading position in the offshore wind sector.
• Despite no Spanish home market, Gamesa showed success in a variety of global growth markets such as India and Latin America, which propelled it from eighth place globally in 2014 to fifth place in 2015. The company even managed substantial installations in China, where few non-Chinese OEMs have found success. This success in geographically dispersed international markets shows why Gamesa is being targeted for acquisition by Siemens.
• Enercon rode the installation boom in its domestic market of Germany and found continued success in securing international markets, but not enough to avoid dropping one place to sixth globally in 2015.
• United Power, Ming Yang, Envision, and CSIC Haizhuang took the remaining top positions of seventh through tenth (in that order), driven by the record installation levels in China.
• Senvion—for the first time tracked on its own after being sold by the Suzlon Group—just barely missed the year’s top 10 ranking by placing eleventh. The company demonstrated strength in both total megawatts installed and geographic diversity of installations.
• As expected, India-based Suzlon slipped from the top rankings in 2015 since it was no longer combined with Senvion.
• Nordex had a record year of wind turbine installations and placed fourteenth globally on 2015 installations.
• The three other OEMs in the 11-15 rankings are Chinese manufacturers Sewind (Shanghai Electric), XEMC, and Dongfang.
• Acciona placed sixteenth, experiencing 282% year-over-year installation growth and largely underlining why Nordex acquired Acciona’s wind division in 2Q 2016.