China installed almost 50% of the world’s wind power energy capacity in 2010 as its market exploded from almost nothing to around 18 GW.China’s massive energy needs and its growing emissions and pollution problems have led to strong tailwinds for the wind industry.This has also led to the growth of a massive domestic industry which has led to 8 Chinese Wind Turbine Producers among the top 15 global WTG suppliers.Now China is looking to make major inroads into offshore wind energy which is dominated by Europe.China has the only offshore wind farm in Asia off Shanghai and is looking to rapidly ramp up as its energy needs keep growing.With more than 70% of China’s electricity coming from dirty coal and the country already consuming 3 billion tons of coal a year,energy sources have to be diversified urgently.

China is now planning to set a target of 30 GW of Offshore Wind Energy by 2020 which means a 300x growth from its current installed base of only 100 MW.This will make it rival United Kingdom which aims to harvest massive amounts of electricity from its North Sea wind resource.Top Chinese Wind Energy Companies like Sinovel,Goldwind,Ming Yang have already developed or/are in the process of developing wind turbines of 5 MW capacity or more to target this fastest growing wind segment.Sinovel the largest wind energy company in the world has already supplied the wind turbine for the Shanghai farm.Note top offshore wind companies like Siemens,Vestas are already jostling to take a first mover advantage in this technologically complex segment.Even non traditional players like the Korean shipmakers Daewoo,Samsung,Hyundai as well as US Defence Major Northrup Gruman are also preparing to take a slice of this upcoming multi billion industry.

Chinese Wind Companies

Chinese companies have become the low cost leaders in the Wind Equipment Industry and sell much below Western competitors .Leading WTG companies from the West likeVestas and Gamesa are reeling from Chinese competition and slowdown in Western markets.Suzlon too has been affected as Korean shipbuilders and Chinese wind producers have become major players.

Note the technological complexities and capital required for offshore wind energy will naturally exlude the smaller wind turbine makers in China which are already facing bankruptcy due to hypercompetition,oversupply and price wars in the Chinese market.The government is also reducing subsidies for smaller companies which is making life even more tough.

Chinese Solar Subsidies

Like for Solar Energy,China will hold an auction for 1.5-2 GW of Offshore Wind Energy in end 2011 and the winners of the tender bids will be announced in 2012.The government is targeting for 5 GW of offshore wind energy by 2015.Note offshore wind

Top Global Offshore Wind Turbine Companies

1) Vestas – Vestas the largest Wind Turbine Company in the World has faced one setback after another.Stiff competition from China,Slowdown in Wind Energy Farms in the West and now  Wind Blade Problems have formed a perfect storm for this company.However the company is the leading supplier of Offshore Wind Turbines and recently introduced a 5 MW offshore wind turbine with leading offshore wind Danish developer Dong Energy.

2)Siemens – The largest Green Company in the world,Siemens has a strong presence in the Wind Turbine Segment.Along with Vestas,Siemens has supplied more than 80% of the Offshore Wind Turbine to the European offshore wind market till date.Given its huge technological strengths in electrical equipment,power transmission and large project construction,Siemens is looking for a dominant role in the growing offshore wind market .

3) Gamesa (Spain) – Gamesa the Spanish Wind Turbine Producer and Wind Farm Operator has faced the worst year of its history in 2010.Like Vestas and Suzlon,2010 has been a cruel year for the Wind Industry in the Western Markets and the WTG Players dependent on those markets.Gamesa is leading a massive Spanish Research Effort to develop a colossal 15 MW Turbine meant for the fast growing offshore wind sector.But this is a long term plan with 2020 set as the target for the complete development of this new Turbine.The company has also tied up with Northrop Grumman to target the North American offshore wind market which has massive potential which is zero as of today.

4) Suzlon Energy is the biggest Indian Wind Energy Company by far with 4-5 Gigawatts of WTG Capacity per year.However Suzlon has languished in red ink since the beginning of the Global Financial Crisis in 2008.However things seem to be turning with a slew of orders particularly by Repower.Suzlon is looking to completely buy out its European Wind Turbine producer Repower. REpower Systems has won a contract from Belgian project development company C-Power to supply 48 turbines of the 6M type for the Thornton Bank offshore wind farm.The turbines have a total rated power generating capacity of about 295MW.Note Suzlon is also targeting the Indian offshore wind market which needs to install lots of wind energy to meet its RPS target of 15% by 2020.