Global wind turbine order intake rose 7% year-on-year during the first quarter of 2019, surpassing the last record which was achieved in the first quarter of 2018 for capacity in the quarter by 875MW, according to new research from Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables.
As the Wood Mackenzie reports, there is a strong order intake in China and the Americas more than offset a 20% decrease in firm order capacity YoY in EMEARC in in Q1 2019.
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Namely, developers in China, Latin America and North America jointly ordered 3.1GW more capacity YoY in Q1, which advanced an overall 2GW less capacity ordered in Europe, APAC, the Middle East and Africa. In these areas, procurement decisions have been affected by regulatory transitions.
What is more, Chinese offshore market led to a 66% increase YoY in global offshore order capacity, with a record Q1 demand, reaching 1.7GW of firm orders. Specifically, five Chinese OEMs each was granted 300MW+ of offshore orders in China as pressure increases to comply with provincial grid-connection targets in China for offshore. This caused Chinese OEMs, accounting for 77% of all offshore capacity ordered globally.
Regarding Europe, offshore order intake decreased 55% YoY in Q1 2019 and consisted mainly of a single 487MW order for a project in Belgium. However, global offshore order intake was over 2GW for only the third time, with more than 10GW ordered from Q1 2018 through Q1 2019, according to Luke Lewandowski, Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables Director.
Moreover, the research notes that order intake in the 4.0-4.99MW segment grew for the fourth quarter in a row, with 500MW+ ordered in the US, China and Brazil. The Vestas V150-4.X and Siemens SG 4.5-145 models recorded the most order capacity, respectively, in Q1, with Nordex’s N149/4X00 also making the top 10 ranking for onshore turbine models.
Vestas also won the largest share of orders for the fourth straight quarter, resuming its success in various rating segments. In fact, the V150-4.X and V120-2.2 turbines both ranked in the top 5 onshore turbine models ordered in Q1, as Vestas won more than 500MW of orders in North America, Latin America and APAC.
Finally, 5 Chinese OEMs were among the top 10 worldwide for order intake capacity in Q1, leveraging rising demand from the Chinese offshore wind sector.
