Q1 wind turbine orders near 14 GW, down by just 7% Y/Y

Global wind turbine orders in the first quarter reached almost 14 GW, contracting by just 7% year-on-year as demand in Europe, and especially in the Scandinavian countries, the UK and Poland, compensated for a weaker quarter in the US, India and Australia.

This is according to an analysis by Wood Mackenzie. Luke Lewandowski, research director, said that “positive momentum from order negotiations in 2019 largely eased the potential severity of the pandemic’s impact on order intake in Q1.”

Onshore wind accounted for 12.6 GW of orders in the first quarter. Wood Mackenzie points out that nine of the top 10 onshore turbine models sold in the quarter have been introduced within the past two years.

Vestas Wind Systems A/S (CPH:VWS) was the number-one original equipment manufacturer (OEM) in January-March with an announced order intake of 3.3 GW. The Danish wind turbine maker's V150-4.2 model sold the most capacity onshore, while China's Envision Energy is the leader in terms of sold units, 248, for its onshore EN-141 model.

“The deployment of higher-rated turbines continues to accelerate onshore, with the sector making up 45% of demand for models rated 5 to 6.99 MW during the first quarter of 2020,” the market research firm said.

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