The areas most likely to provide challengers to the OEM bosses in the coming years are finance and policy. As wind power matures and reaches price parity with other forms of energy generation, the calls for cuts in subsidies or suspension of tax breaks will grow louder.
Wind will have to stand on its own financial feet. For offshore wind, where project investment is measured in billions rather than millions, this will not be easy. Bold decision-making and innovative ways of raising finance will be required.
But investors will keep their hands in their pockets unless there is sufficient confidence in a long-term future for wind power. This is where the policymakers should come in, fighting climate change by encouraging the use of renewables.
A certain amount of progress has been made in this direction, but when so many countries in Europe, one of the globe's most developed and wealthy regions, are not expected to reach their 2020 renewable targets, it is clear the political will has been lacking.
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