Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy (SGRE) set a single year record for new capacity globally as it claimed the top spot in the global ranking published by Make in their Global Wind Turbine OEM 2017 Market Share report. The ranking confirms the advantage behind the merger, combining Gamesa’s competitive onshore platform, particularly in emerging markets, with Siemens’ dominance in the offshore wind sector.
SGRE won the majority of sub-regional rankings, which helped to propel it ahead of Vestas in the global ranking. Regional diversification and the offshore sector had a significant influence on global positioning in 2017. SGRE and Vestas installed capacity in nearly twice the number of countries than the next OEM, which contributed to at least a 5 %-point lead for each OEM over the rest of the pack. An increasingly competitive offshore sector was a differentiator for SGRE, and also enabled MHI Vestas to crack the global rankings, a first for an offshore-exclusive OEM. Senvion and several Chinese OEMs, namely SEwind, also leveraged growth in the offshore sector to solidify their annual positions. Demand for turbines rated 3MW or higher influenced global positioning in 2017. This trend was most impactful in the Americas, with Vestas and the Nordex Group capitalizing on competitive 3MW models, but it affected the rankings in Europe, Africa, and Asia Pacific excluding China as well. A significant decrease in annual capacity in China YoY affected the positioning of Chinese turbine OEMs, with only Goldwind sitting in the global top five. The lack of a global strategy exposed Chinese turbine OEMs to the market downturn in China, eroding their annual market share YoY and enabling Western turbine OEMs to maintain a grip on the top 15 market share.