Investment into wind farms as a source of renewable energy is growing by leaps and bounds. The wind tower market is expected to surpass $19 billion by 2019.
The report examines several companies, including Shanghai Taisheng Wind Power Equipment, Trinity Structural Towers and CS Wind Corp, and their expected sales. The high market value of wind technologies can be linked to local government support, investments in research and development, and technological advancements.
Government drives wind energy
According to the findings, government support of the wind energy industry is the largest motivator of growth. December 2015 saw the United Nations Climate Change Conference come to Paris for a global conversation on climate and renewables.
Funding initiatives were established to help developing countries bolster their renewable energy efforts, according to updates by BBC News. Incentives were created for global businesses and developed governments to drive the financing of, and making large investments in, the renewable energy market.
Leading vendors analyzed in the report were German wind technologies company Enercon GmbH, Trinity Structural Towers based in Dallas, Vestas Wind Systems in Denmark and Windar Renovables based in Spain.
However, according to the report, the Asia-Pacific region is expected to see the most demand from this turn in the market. Companies like CS Wind, based in South Korea, and Shanghai Taisheng, based in China, are expected to have 44 percent of the market share by 2019. The APAC region will likely be driven by higher rates of industrialization and government initiatives.
As vendors of wind towers with the highest energy capacity, CS Wind Corp and Enercon GmbH are primed to be the top two competitors.
Wind tower materials
ReportsnReports analyzed the market for four leading types of wind towers used: tubular steel, concrete, lattice steel, concrete-steel hybrid. Tubular steel is expected to become 92 percent of the market by 2019.
According to information provided by Wind Power Monthly, tubular steel towers are the best option from an economic standpoint.
Vestas built a 140-meter tower in 2014, with a 222-meter tip height, well above the industry recommended 200-meter limit. This was done with a tubular steel tower. Tubular steel towers, when matched with an appropriate base, are capable of heights well above recommended standards. Enercon bases its construction technology on concrete and hybrid towers.
CS Wind signed a contract with Siemens Wind Power to supply offshore wind power in November 2015, and Noblewind in September 2015 according to Reuters. However, by 2019 it’s expected that the 92 percent of the market will be based in onshore application sales.
It expects the wind turbine rotor blade market to see a compound annual growth rate of 17 percent from 2015 to 2019. Vestas and Enercon made the list as key vendors, producing three blade rotors wit ha diametric range of 37 meters to 128 meters. The most notable challenge to sales in that market are the high cost of offshore installations.
