After 2 consecutive years of climbing up the global market share rankings, the Chinese OEMs slipped back down the rankings, according to MAKE Consulting’s Global Wind Turbine OEM 2012 Market Share study.

A 26% decline in Chinese installations and a decline in market share in China from the top 3 leading Chinese OEMs were responsible for the Chinese faltering on the global stage as exemplified by Goldwind dropping from number 2 in 2011 to number 7 in 2012. 2012 rankings also showed that the industry has become more concentrated as the top 5 OEMs commanded 55% of the global market in 2012 versus 45% in 2011, in spite of an increasing number of market players.

Competition for the number 1 spot went down to the wire, but Vestas maintained its position as the world’s largest turbine OEM in 2012 by a narrow 0.9% margin from GE. GE’s record year in the US and growth in emerging EMEA markets were instrumental in moving GE up from global number 5 to number 2, running Vestas very close for market leadership. Vestas would have lost its number one position to GE, had all of GE’s 2012 projects in Brazil been connected to the grid (Ed - yesterday we reported that BTM Consult had indeed named GE Wind as the number 1; clearly BTM didn't take grid connection into the equation).

Siemens also benefitted from strong growth in the Americas, and maintained its number 3 position in the global wind turbine market and its number 1 position in the global offshore wind sector. Gamesa also had a successful 2012, thanks to a stronger performance in the Asia-Pacific and Americas regions which offset decreased installations in the EMEA market.

MAKE’s Top Ten global wind turbine OEM rankings

1. Vestas – 14.6%
2. GE – 13.7%
3. Siemens – 10.8%
4. Gamesa – 8.2%
5. Enercon - 7.8%
6. Suzlon Group – 6.5%
7. Goldwind – 6.2%
8. United Power – 4.5%
9. Sinovel – 2.9%
10. Mingyang – 2.6%