The wind turbine industry finds itself in a crucial transition period as it races to catch up with booming global demand for wind power, which surged to nearly 20GW in annual installations during 2007, and is on track to more than double within a decade led by rapid growth in the US and China.

Emerging Energy Research expects global installed wind base to grow more than fivefold from its 2007 total of 94GW to more than 576GW by 2020. As a result of this booming demand, competition for wind turbine orders has moved from project-driven, national agreements to multi-year frame agreements spanning several regions. These orders increasingly focus on supply of multi-megawatt turbines as the global wind market has made a steady shift toward 1.5MW and larger turbines, encouraging a number of new suppliers to enter, according to EER's just-released market study, Global Wind Turbine Markets and Strategies 2008-2020. EER anticipates the current seller's market for wind turbines will continue in the short term while the industry builds out for a new phase of stable, global growth, stimulating the market to surpass US$ 55 billion by 2015. EER's market study, Global Wind Turbine Markets and Strategies 2008-2020, was released in June 2008. This study provides analysis of wind turbine markets including the strategies of wind turbine manufacturers and their component suppliers, the competitive positioning of these players in the global market, and the challenges they face going forward.