This Nov 16, 2020 aerial photograph shows wind turbines and solar panels near Fuxin, Liaoning province, China. (PHOTO / BLOOMBERG)

Chinese turbine makers have made their local wind power market the biggest in the world with a scorching pace of installations. Now, those giants want to take a larger slice of burgeoning global demand. 

Companies including Xinjiang Goldwind Science & Technology Co, Envision Group and Ming Yang Smart Energy Group Ltd plan to invest in factories abroad to take market share from European and American rivals such as Vestas Wind Systems A/S and General Electric Co.

China’s largest turbine maker Goldwind said it will be able to “run shoulder by shoulder” with overseas wind giants starting next year, while Ming Yang has made expanding in the offshore wind market in Europe a top priority. 

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“We take that very seriously,” said Marc Becker, head of the offshore unit at Zamudio, Spain-based Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy SA, the largest supplier of offshore turbines outside China. Companies in China “have proven in many industries that they can be fast, and they know how to build turbines,” Becker said.

CHINA WINDS

Competition is heating up with global demand for wind power ready to surge. Regions from Europe to India and South America are scaling up renewable energy installations to help meet aggressive climate goals, and President Joe Biden has set a target for the US to develop offshore wind capacity of 30 gigawatts by 2030, up from zero today.

There are too many projects and too few suppliers. If you just look at market forces, the Chinese companies have a good opportunity.

Mats Sellei, Director, K2 Management

Chinese turbine makers have already shown they’re capable of competing on size and price. European companies have long competed to deliver the biggest turbines, with Vestas taking the lead earlier this year with a product boasting 15 megawatts of capacity. That title was short-lived after Zhongshan, Guangdong-based Ming Yang topped it with a 16-megawatt machine in August.

State-owned China State Shipbuilding Corp has unveiled the largest offshore wind turbine model, which also has 16 megawatts of capacity and a rotor diameter of 256 meters, according to BloombergNEF. Larger turbines should help Chinese players make more inroads in the offshore wind sector.

While higher prices of steel and other raw materials are impacting manufacturers in Europe and the US, turbine prices in China are about 40 percent cheaper than overseas. Producers in the highly fragmented market are trying to undercut each other, pushing the cost of China-produced models to a new low in the first half of 2021.

That fierce local competition is also spurring China-based producers to look abroad, even with domestic demand expected to pick up after a slowdown this year. 

WIND KINGS

Goldwind surged as much as 10 percent in Shenzhen on Thursday, while Ming Yang jumped 10 percent to a record in Shanghai.

Some overseas customers are already buying. Italian renewable energy developer Renexia SpA plans to use 10 of Ming Yang’s 3-megawatt turbines for a project off Italy’s southern coast. The company chose the turbines because they were well-suited to the Mediterranean’s winds, according to Andrea Porchera, a spokesman for Renexia.

That small project is seen as a sign of what’s to come, and Ming Yang is planning to build a manufacturing base in southern Germany, Vice President Ye Fan said in an interview.

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Goldwind is aiming to export around 2 to 3 gigawatts annually from 2022, up from about 1.5 gigawatts over the past few years, according to President Cao Zhigang. That would boost its share of the overseas wind market to 5 percent from 3 percent, Cao said.

Wind turbines, manufactured by Vestas Wind Systems A/S, operate near farmland in Ukraine. (VINCENT MUNDY / BLOOMBERG)

Still, Chinese companies face challenges to win more share of a global market that’s typically been dominated by a handful of key players. Outside China, there’s a bigger focus on efforts such as engaging with local communities, said Thomas Keller, president of Vestas China, the Danish firm’s Beijing-based unit. 

Processes overseas to verify the quality of turbines are also stricter and can take longer, meaning projects using China-made turbines could face difficulties in quickly gaining approvals or securing investment. 

With demand rising, particularly in the offshore wind sector, there should be a greater role for China’s producers in overseas markets, said Mats Sellei, Stockholm-based director of procurement and supply chain at K2 Management, an engineering and management consultancy. 

“The market of offshore wind at least in the next couple years will become truly global,” said Sellei. “There are too many projects and too few suppliers. If you just look at market forces, the Chinese companies have a good opportunity.”