Global Wind Turbine Installations Exceed 54 Gigawatts, Confirms Navigant

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A new report published this week by Navigant Research has revealed that Danish wind turbine manufacturer Vestas again led the way in 2016 for total wind turbine installations, in a year which saw a total of over 54 gigawatts of new wind installed worldwide.

Navigant Research published its World Wind Energy Market Update 2017 report this week, in which it documents the development of the global wind power market during 2016, while also providing forecasts for 2017 through 2021. According to Navigant, and confirming figures published by the Global Wind Energy Council earlier this year, global wind turbine installations reached 54.315 gigawatts (GW) in 2016, an annual decrease of 14% of the impressive record 63.1 GW set in 2015. Cumulative global wind power capacity now sits at 486.831 GW.

The slump can primarily be traced to a downturn in China’s total new capacity additions, which dropped from 30.293 GW in 2015 to 23.328 GW in 2016. Looking beyond China, however, and Navigant traces growth in nearly every other wind market, from the dominance of Europe to new markets in Latin America, Asia Pacific, and Africa. Europe as a whole installed almost 14 GW, while North, South, and Central America installed a combined 12.4 GW.

Out of the total 54 GW installed during 2016, a total of 2.2 GW was installed by the offshore industry, bringing the cumulative global offshore capacity up to 13.5 GW.

The wind turbine supplier industry underwent its own changes during 2016, with Vestas regaining its top spot from 2015’s usurper, Goldwind, which in fact dropped to third behind GE Energy which had its strongest year to date. Gamesa took fourth place, and sets itself up for even further growth after its successful merger with Siemens’ wind energy division.

Top 10 Wind Turbine Suppliers Market Share, World Markets: 2016

“The wind industry in 2016 had another stellar year with 54.3 GW of new wind capacity added,” said Jesse Broehl, senior research analyst with Navigant Research. “The drop in capacity installation in China, plus recent mergers and acquisitions, shook up the annual ranking and market shares of global wind turbine manufacturers. As a result, more Western turbine vendors are in the top 10 ranking in 2016 versus 2015 — some with record capacity additions.”


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Joshua S Hill

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