China's Goldwind Knocks GE From Top Wind Market Spot
China's Goldwind Knocks GE From Top Wind Market Spot
Jessica Shankleman
February 22, 2016
Chinese manufacturer ranked top for first time, says BNEF
GE fell into third, Vestas retained second place, study shows
source energydigital.com
Xinjiang Goldwind Science & Technology Co. installed the most wind power last year, becoming the first Chinese company take the top spot in Bloomberg New Energy Finance’s global onshore-wind rankings.
Goldwind installed 7.8 gigawatts last year compared with 4.5 gigawatts in 2014 when it was in fourth place, BNEF’s 2015 Global Wind Turbine Market Shares report showed Monday. Last year’s top producer, General Electric Co., fell to third place with 5.9 gigawatts of installed wind power.
China installed a record 29 gigawatts of new wind power capacity last year, as developers rushed to complete projects before the government cut the tariff rate at the end of the year. This year, five Chinese companies made BNEF’s top 10.
“It’s hardly surprising that five Chinese manufacturers made the top 10 ranking in a year where China contributed roughly half of the global capacity,” said Amy Grace, head of wind research for BNEF, in a statement.
All but 100 megawatts of Goldwind’s turbines were installed in China, and the company took nearly 27 percent of China’s market share, according to the figures.
“It is more surprising how dominant Goldwind was in its domestic market,” Grace said. “The company commissioned more than two-and-a-half times the amount of capacity as the next largest Chinese manufacturer, Guodian.”
Goldwind beat Europe’s biggest installer, Vestas Wind Systems A/S, by 500 megawatts to take the top spot. Siemens AG and Gamesa Corp tied for fourth place, both installing 3.1 gigawatts of onshore wind last year.
A potential merger of Gamesa and Siemens that is reported to be imminent by local press, would have placed the two companies into third place, said Grace.
For the first year, BNEF’s global wind rankings don’t include offshore wind to reflect how the two markets are now growing separately. Siemens was the number one offshore wind turbine maker by a wide margin last year. The company commissioned 2.6 gigawatts in 2015, four times more than second ranked Adwen Offshore SL, a joint venture between Gamesa and Areva SA, according to the report.
(Corrects to 100 megawatts from 1GW in 5th paragraph, updates explanation of methodology in tenth paragraph.)
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-02-22/china-s-goldwind-knocks-ge-from-top-spot-in-global-wind-market
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