The year-on-year decline in wind turbine orders is principally due to weakness in core markets in Asia Pacific and Europe, in particular China, India, UK and Germany (offshore), it says  “Regulatory uncertainty, subsidy cuts and grid connectivity issues all contributed to the weakness and offset good growth in new emerging markets.” As a result, MAKE Consulting reiterated its view that 2013 will be a weaker year for installations, forecasting a 5% fall on 2011.

The Americas are holding up well, MAKE adds. This is being driven by the US, where project developers are trying to squeeze in projects before the Production Tax Credit expires at the end of 2012., and several Latin American markets.

While 2012 is expected to be a poor year for the global wind turbine market, “we expect that order flow could improve in 2013 and beyond,” the consultancy adds. “We are tracking over 11GW of wind power capacity already outlined through framework agreements plus an additional 18GW possible through conditional orders, providing scope for a recovery, if conditional orders convert to firm ones.”