China drove the wind market to break a record in the second quarter of the year with strong activity in the market pushing wind turbine order intake to 43 gigawatts (GW).

This represented a 36% year-on-year growth to an estimated $18.1b, Wood Mackenzie reported.

Of the 43GW, China accounted for 35GW. The market has so far added 45GW year-to-date, which is 10GW short of its target to build an average of 55GW annually in the next decade.

“Goldwind, Mingyang and Envision were all very active in Q2 with projects in China, accounting for more than 26 MW of activity between them,” Luke Lewandowski, Wood Mackenzie Research Director, said.

“Rapid technology adoption and government support have catapulted China to this leading position.”

Global activity in the wind market is also showing a record pace with 61GW ordered in total during the first two quarters. This is up 13% compared to the first hald of 2021.

Europe also doubled its order intake to 3.8GW during the quarter, whilst the US remains slow with only less than 2GW in the first half.

“China is surging and we are seeing strength in Europe too. The US is where demand has been sluggish. This is due to tough market conditions, such as labor cost increases, inflation and supply chain disruptions. As a result, securing new orders in the US has been difficult, which has had a negative impact on OEMs dependent on the market, primarily Western-based OEMs.”

“However, with the passage of the IRA bill in the US, Wood Mackenzie anticipates a boost in activity over the second half of the year. With these new incentives, wind power projects have become more economically viable and thus more competitive compared to conventional technologies. If procurement of wind turbines in China continues at its current pace and intake activity picks up in the US, the wind turbine market could be set for a record year.”