Record amount of wind turbine capacity ordered globally in 2019

As noted in the Wood Mackenzie report, 'Global Wind Turbine Order Analysis: Q1 2020', this record demand resulted in an estimated $78bn in wind turbine order capacity in 2019. $25bn of that total is attributed to Q4 2019.

Global wind turbine order intake increased by 8.4GW in Q4 2019 and 39GW for the full year, says Wood Mackenzie.

China is integral to this growth, both onshore and offshore, with developers in the country ordering an astounding 50GW of wind turbine capacity in 2019.

A perfect demand storm last year yielded three consecutive quarters of 12GW+ of wind turbine order intake in China.

"Demand in China was primarily driven by the expiration of the feed-in-tariff (FIT) but was also enabled by new transmission capacity and the easing of red warnings in Northern provinces," said Luke Lewandowski, Wood Mackenzie Research Director.

Global offshore order intake reached 17GW last year, with orders in China accounting for 76% of total demand.

"A nearly 2GW surge in offshore orders in Taiwan last year - and to a lesser extent in Vietnam - resulted in firm offshore wind turbine order intake in Asia Pacific, excluding China, exceeding offshore order intake in Europe for the first time within the annual period," added Lewandowski.

Demand for 4MW+ onshore turbine platforms increased by 202% year-over-year, with a remarkable 8GW ordered in China alone. According to Wood Mackenzie's figures, developers globally ordered more than 1GW for seven different onshore turbine models rated at 4MW or higher last year.

Lewandowski said: "A lower share of orders for offshore projects in Europe lowered the global average turbine rating for offshore orders to 5.8GW. However, increasing demand in China for turbines in the 6-8MW class and accelerated commercialisation of offshore models rated more than 10MW have increased the market’s average rating year-over-year."

Danish wind turbine manufacturer Vestas dominated in 2019. The company won the most wind turbine order capacity in every quarter, averaging 4.5GW per quarter and nearly 18GW for the year.

"Chinese OEMs claimed six spots in the full year top ten ranking for order intake, led by SEwind which recorded 4.9GW of offshore orders. This was the first time a non-Western OEM won the top spot for the sector," added Lewandowski.