China to retain lead in wind rotor blade market

China will remain the leading global consumer of wind turbine rotor blades over the coming years, with its market value expected to increase from $2 billion in 2012 to $3.7 billion by 2020, a compound annual growth rate of 8.2 percent.

A worker at a wind turbine in Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. China will remain the leading global consumer of wind turbine rotor blades over the coming years, with its market value expected to increase from $2 billion in 2012 to $3.7 billion by 2020.[Photo/China Daily]

The data was given by UK-based GlobalData, an international business intelligence organization that focuses on energy, resources and healthcare sectors.

"We expect the global wind power market to demonstrate further steady growth over the coming years, with annual turbine installations to increase from 48.3 gigawatts (gW) in 2014 to 61.4 gW by 2020," said Harshavardhan Reddy Nagatham, an analyst with GlobalData.

"Increasing levels of wind power generation have given the wind turbine and component manufacturing industry a significant boost over the past years, and have caused it to spread geographically.

"While European nations such as Denmark, Germany and Spain, have been pioneers in this industry, a major shift to the Asia-Pacific region has occurred, particularly in China, India and Vietnam. This can be attributed to the availability of low-cost labor in the region, as well as government support for the local turbine and component manufacturing industry," he said.

The consultancy's latest report said that China boasted the top wind rotor blade market in 2012, followed by the United States and India.

To supply the country's increasing power demand and reducing carbon emissions, the government has set goals to generate 15 percent of electricity from renewable sources and reduce carbon emissions by 40 to 45 percent by 2020.

"With these goals in mind, the government decided that wind power was the most viable energy source among all alternative sources, leading to the country's ongoing dominance in the wind turbine rotor blade market," said Nagatham.

Given the size of the market, China also proved to be a major manufacturing hub of wind turbine rotor blades.

Working within what is currently the largest wind power market in the world, China's manufacturers, supported by government subsidies and favorable policies, produce approximately 25 percent of the world's rotor blades.

According to GlobalData, China and the US contributed to more than 65 percent of global installations of wind turbine while India contributing to 5 percent of the total.