Turbines of the year 2019: China's OEMs take up the challenge

The sheer size and special requirements of China's domestic market are accelerating wind-energy technology in the country at an increasingly impressive rate, reports Eize de Vries in his presentation of the selection for the best onshore and offshore turbines, drivetrains, rotor blades and innovations for the 2019 �u�X��ʘ�� products of the year awards.

by Eize de Vries 2 January 2020

�u�X��ʘ�� picks 2019's best technologies in seven categories

China’s wind-energy technology is not just catching up with Europe’s; it is matching it in several classes, and showing the potential to outstrip it across the board in the coming years.

This trend is most clearly shown in the smaller onshore-turbine segment, where the emphasis on boosting yield and driving down the levelised cost of energy by fitting supersize rotors on to dedicated low-wind turbines with modest rating is perhaps most profound.

The ongoing trend towards higher rated onshore and offshore products and the introduction of dedicated configurations is also increasingly evident.

The sluggish wind-energy growth in Europe and the Americas over recent years is perhaps beginning to show its effect on the new products coming to market from a diminishing number of western OEMs.

Classes and criteria

We have made only one small change to the judging categories for this year’s selection, extending the smaller-turbine class from 2.9MW to 3.4MW. This reflects the global trend towards higher-rated machines.

Turbines need to have been available for commercial order in the past 12 months, with at least one prototype installed and operating to qualify.

However, a number of turbine prototypes were in the process of being installed — weather permitting — while this magazine was being prepared for press. We have erred on the side of generosity in these cases.

Similarly, we have cut a little slack for working prototypes in the blade and drivetrain classes because it would have excluded products at a well-advanced state of development and worthy of recognition.

The qualities we look for in determining the year’s best wind-energy hardware of go further than technological innovation, however groundbreaking that may appear at the time.

We also investigate track record, order backlog, quality of design and manufacture, the solutions that cut the cost and speed up the process of transport and installation, together with trying to judge efficiency and reliability in operation.

Wind energy’s success on the economic front in recent years is allowing it to compete on subsidy-free terms with all other forms of electricity generation in a growing number of places.

That has put strain on an industry still finding its feet in an environment that remains dominated by the vested interests of the fossil-fuel and nuclear lobbies. But the products described here will play a key role in the much overdue transition to clean energy.

ONSHORE TURBINES UP TO 3.4MW

Still a high-volume sector, but one that western OEMs are eschewing in favour of higher-rated machines and the offshore sector, leaving China’s turbine makers to dominate

MEDAL WINNERS

GOLD Goldwind GW150-2.8MW

ONSHORE TURBINES 3.5MW-PLUS

All the leading OEMs launched new products or enhanced existing machinery in the fast-growing supersize sector that is taking wind into zero-subsidy territory

MEDAL WINNERS

GOLD Vestas V150-5.6MW EnVentus