GE overthrows Vestas as the world’s largest wind turbine manufacturer

General Electric became the world’s leading wind turbine installer last year. Renewable energy developers added a record 96.3 gigawatts of wind turbines in 2020, up 58 percent from the previous year, according to research by BloombergNEF. With solar power, wind power is becoming one of the cheapest ways to produce electricity and a key part of governments’ efforts to eliminate dependence on fossil fuels.

GE and Xinjiang Goldwind Science & Technology Co. Ltd. they lead the way in the booming markets of the US and China and were the top two turbine suppliers globally. The result means that Vestas Wind Systems A / S comes out of first place for the first time in five years.
“GE and Goldwind claimed the top two spots in this year’s ranking by concentrating on the largest markets,” said Isabelle Edwards, a wind analyst at BNEF. “This strategy may not be as fruitful in 2021 as subsidies lapse in those areas.”

The turbine business is becoming increasingly dominated by a handful of global players, the BNEF report found. GE, Goldwind, Vestas and Envision account for more than half of all the wind machines sold.

Installations of offshore wind turbines though, fell by 19 per cent. The industry is much smaller than for those on land and the projects are generally bigger. That means installations can vary greatly from year to year.

Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy SA was the top installer of offshore wind turbines, adding 1.91 gigawatts.

William Mathis, Bloomberg News