Obtain the data you need to make the most informed decisions by accessing our extensive portfolio of information, analytics, and expertise. Sign in to the product or service center of your choice.
2020’s top wind developers are targeting significant wind capacity development, eyeing an equal split between onshore and offshore projects
03 May 2021Samantha Bobo Woodworth
Wind energy, both onshore and offshore, saw a
significant development boom in 2020 with nearly 100 GW of
additional capacity installed worldwide, most of which is located
in the traditional top three markets: China/Asia-Pacific, Europe,
and North America.
China continues to be the leader in wind development, developing
approximately 45 GW of wind energy in 2020.[1] North America boasts
the second largest amount of capacity added in 2020, with about 19
GW developed, while Europe rounds out the top three with an
estimated 15 GW of new additions for the year.
The top global wind developers of 2020 have developed a total of
328 GW of onshore and offshore wind globally, representing 45% of
all wind capacity worldwide. Developers based in mainland China
developed about half of that capacity.
Half of the announced pipeline from top wind developers
will be offshore projects
Based on the known pipeline of planned projects, these
developers are looking to develop 134 GW of both onshore and
offshore wind energy in the near-term. North America, Europe, and
China/Asia-Pacific remain the largest target markets for new
development. Close to 40% of that pipeline is planned for North
America, with most of the remaining pipeline slated for Europe and
the Asia Pacific region.
Of the planned wind capacity announced by the top developers, it
is about a 50/50 split between onshore and offshore wind, which
highlights the growing momentum of the offshore wind industry. 17
of the 25 top developers are developing offshore wind along with
their onshore portfolios. The top developers for planned offshore
wind development are Ørsted, SSE Renewables, ENGIE, and CGN. Ørsted
boasts the largest planned pipeline of offshore wind capacity,
expecting to install about 14 GW in the near-term between Europe
and North America. SSE Renewables has the second largest offshore
pipeline, with 11 GW planned for development in the UK and Ireland.
ENGIE and CGN are tied for third; both with 7 GW of planned
offshore wind capacity. These four developers represent over half
of the total short-term planned offshore wind capacity announced by
the top developers.
The wind developer market continues to be highly
concentrated in the traditional top three markets but represent a
varied mix of business structures and development
strategies.
18 of the 25 top developers are diversified utilities. Only six
companies -Acciona, Apex Clean Energy, Invenergy, RES Group, RWE,
and China Suntien Green Energy—are pure renewable developers
while Tianrun is the development arm of the renewable equipment
manufacturer Goldwind.
At the regional level, all mainland China-based top developers
are state-owned entities with a primary focus on the domestic
market and a regional focus towards the Asia Pacific region. There
are some exceptions. Tianrun, State Power Investment Corporation
(SPIC), China Huadian Corporation, and China General Nuclear (CGN)
who have developed or have plans to develop some smaller projects
in Europe, North America, and Latin America.
In addition to China's state-owned developers, the Europe-based
developers EDF Renewables, Enel, Ørsted, and Vattenfall are
partially or wholly state-owned. The remaining seven Europe-based
developers, as well as all the North America- based developers are
privately owned companies.
Europe-based developers are the most active in
international markets
Of the 11 Europe-based developers in these rankings, only SSE
Renewables and Vattenfall have operational and planned portfolios
that are focused exclusively in Europe. The remaining nine
developers have installed and planned portfolios with strong
presence in Europe, but they also have significant diversified in
other regions, especially North America, with an increasing focus
in Latin America.
As for North America-based top developers, only Invenergy has
developed capacity in international markets including Europe and
Latin America and has recently announced plans to develop new
projects in the Asia Pacific region.
Top wind developers increasingly diversify into other
clean energy areas
On top of driving wind energy development globally, many of
these top developers boast diversified portfolios of energy assets
and are looking into other clean energy opportunities that will be
increasingly prominent to contribute to the ongoing decarbonization
efforts of major economies and the attainment of recently announced
net zero targets.
IHS Markit analysis shows that the top 25 global developers have
around 38 GW of planned clean energy projects outside of planned
wind development. The technology focus for these projects vary from
developer to developer but includes deployment and investment in
technologies such as solar PV, battery storage, pumped storage, and
other renewables such as hydro, biogas, and geothermal.
Additional detail on these key players, their asset base,
planned capacity, and their rank based on installed and planned
capacity in the top three markets are available to customers in the
full version of the IHS Markit Global Wind Developer
Rankings.
Samantha Bobo Woodworth is a senior research analyst in
global wind energy at IHS Markit.
Posted 5 May 2021
[1]
While China announced that they had added 71 GW of wind in 2020,
the Chinese Wind Energy Association (CWEA) estimates that 26 GW of
that were developed in 2019 but later connected to the grid in
2020.
