Offshore Wind Energy grew by more than 50% in 2010 and is expected to continue at above 50% growth rates over the next several years as the global installed offshore wind capacity multiples by more than 25 times over the next 10 years.The massive investments and government interest in offshore wind farms has attracted a number of companies to this sector.Top Wind Turbine Companies are leading the pack as it falls right in their domain of expertise as Wind Turbines form almost 50% of the cost of a offshore wind park.Other companies with expertise in related areas such as building foundations for the giant 5 MW and greater capacity offshore wind turbines and the logistics in transporting them also get involved.Shipbuilders from South Korea and Northrop Gruman are also getting in through JV and M&A.European Wind Companies are leading the pack as almost 80% of the current global capacity has been installed in Northern Europe.Also these companies possess a high level of expertise at building and designing wind turbines.Here is a list of the major offshore wind turbine companies.
Offshore Wind Turbine Companies
1) Vestas – Vestas the largest Wind Turbine Company in the World has been facing one setback after another.Stiff competition from China,Slowdown in Wind Energy Farms in the West and now Wind Blade Problems have formed a perfect storm for this company.However the company is the leading supplier of Offshore Wind Turbines and recently introduced a 5 MW offshore wind turbine with leading offshore wind Danish developer Dong Energy.
2)Siemens – The largest Green Company in the world,Siemens has a strong presence in the Wind Turbine Segment.Along with Vestas,Siemens has supplied more than 80% of the Offshore Wind Turbine to the European offshore wind market till date.Given its huge technological strengths in electrical equipment,power transmission and large project construction,Siemens is looking for a dominant role in the growing offshore wind market .
3) Gamesa (Spain) – Gamesa the Spanish Wind Turbine Producer and Wind Farm Operator has faced the worst year of its history in 2010.Like Vestas and Suzlon,2010 has been a cruel year for the Wind Industry in the Western Markets and the WTG Players dependent on those markets.Gamesa is leading a massive Spanish Research Effort to develop a colossal 15 MW Turbine meant for the fast growing offshore wind sector.But this is a long term plan with 2020 set as the target for the complete development of this new Turbine.The company has also tied up with Northrop Grumman to target the North American offshore wind market which has massive potential which is zero as of today.
4) Suzlon Energy is the biggest Indian Wind Energy Company by far with 4-5 Gigawatts of WTG Capacity per year.However Suzlon has languished in red ink since the beginning of the Global Financial Crisis in 2008.However things seem to be turning with a slew of orders particularly by Repower.Suzlon is looking to completely buy out its European Wind Turbine producer Repower. REpower Systems has won a contract from Belgian project development company C-Power to supply 48 turbines of the 6M type for the Thornton Bank offshore wind farm.The turbines have a total rated power generating capacity of approximately 295MW.Note Suzlon is also targeting the Indian offshore wind market which needs to install lots of wind energy to meet its RPS target of 15% by 2020.
Note other major wind turbine makers like Nordex,GE,Sinovel,Goldwind are also developing wind power equipment to target the growing offshore wind farm market.
Offshore Wind Farm Developers
Before we look at the major developers here is a very good interactive map of major global offshore wind farms from 4coffshore . Note Europe is leading in offshore wind energy so it is not a surprise that most of the big devlopers are giant European utilities.
USA
Summary
The Europeans are far ahead of others in owning and operating offshore wind farms.This will give them a big first mover advantage as offshore wind farms are built in other places in the world.Note the learning curve will be steep in offshore wind energy and once they cross that they will gain a huge competitive advantage over other US and Asian wind farm developers.
1 Comment
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