Page 10 - AfrElec Week 10 2021

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Global wind installations grow 59% in 2020

GLOBAL GLOBAL wind installations grew by 59% in global ranking.
2020 to a record 96.3 GW, with General Electric “While every region commissioned more
(GE), Goldwind, Vestas and Envision account- wind capacity than the year prior, the unprece-
ing for half of all commissioning. dented growth observed in 2020 should be cred-
Vestas fell from first place in 2019 to third in ited to the Chinese wind market,” said Edwards.
2020 with 12.4 GW, with GE topping the table “Nearly every turbine maker is now selling
with 13.53 GW and Goldwind installing 13.06 turbines into China, and in 2020 it was the sec-
GW, according to data from BloombergNEF. ond-largest market for both GE and Vestas.”
A total of 94% of installations were onshore, “Over twenty turbine makers supplied wind
while offshore additions actually fell by 19% to turbines to China and many of them were able
6.1.GW. to double or triple their y/y installed capacity,”
“GE and Goldwind claimed the top two said Leo Wang, Beijing-based wind associate at
spots in this year’s ranking by concentrating on BNEF.
the largest markets. This strategy may not be as “The expiring onshore and offshore subsidies
fruitful in 2021 as subsidies lapse in those areas,” fuelled the uptick in installations. Following the
said Isabelle Edwards, wind associate at Bloomb- lapse of onshore feed-in premiums [FiTs], the
ergNEF and lead author of the 2020 Global Wind market is likely to see demand drop this year.”
Turbine Market Shares report. The US commissioned 16.5 GW of new wind
“Vestas takes on less market risk, with tur- capacity last year, as developers prepared for a
bines commissioned in 34 countries last year.” phase-out of the production tax credit.
GE earned its spot at the top of the ranking This was 77% more than in 2019 and 2.6
by increasing its onshore installations by 6.6 GW higher than the country’s previous record
GW year on year, with installations in the US in 2012. GE supplied 57% (9.4 GW) of this new
accounting for some 70% of its 13.5-GW global capacity, and stretched its lead over the compe-
portfolio. tition. Vestas’ market share sank to 31% in 2020,
China, meanwhile, accounted for 98% of even though the Danish turbine maker commis-
the capacity commissioned by Chinese turbine sioned a company record of 5.1 GW across 14
makers. BNEF identified 57.8 GW of new wind US states.
capacity commissioned in China last year. Elsewhere, total onshore additions in 2020
In the onshore market, this was more than reached 19.4 GW in the Americas, 12.6 GW in
was commissioned by the entire world in 2019. Europe and 863 MW in Africa and the Middle
This surge in demand for turbines in China East, while Asia-Pacific accounted for 57.3GW.
allowed smaller domestic turbine makers to fully New wind farms started full commercial
utilise their idling manufacturing capacity, and operations in 44 countries.™
gain ground on their foreign competitors in the

P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 10 11•March•2021