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Production of wind turbines and solar panels soared in 2014,
as increased demand from China fueled a turnaround for renewable energy
manufacturers that had struggled with overcapacity and a sharp slowdown
in demand from developed countries in recent years.
Denmark's Vestas cemented its position as the world's leading wind turbine maker, while Trina Solar of China displaced Yingli Green Energy, also of China, as top panel maker.
Solar and wind producers benefited from China's drive to increase renewable energy's share of its power mix to 15 per cent by 2020, in an effort to cut smog and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Vestas outstripped its rivals for the second year running in
the amount of turbine generating capacity it sold in 2014, according to FTI Consulting, a global business advisory group.
Germany's Siemens was the second-biggest turbine maker last year, followed by China's Goldwind and General Electric of the US.
The top three solar panel producers are now all Chinese, with JinkoSolar displacing Sharp Corp of Japan for the third spot. Canadian Solar is fourth, and Sharp is now fifth.
A rush to build wind farms in China ahead of a feared subsidy cut this year was one reason more than 50 gigawatts of wind generating capacity was built globally in 2014, an increase of more than 40 per cent from 2013.
But this also masked the "underlying challenges facing the industry", said Aris Karcanias, a managing director at FTI Consulting. He pointed to fears that the US wind market could collapse next year if Congress fails to renew wind power production tax credits. "The market is still very much dependent on subsidies," he said.
That was also a problem for solar-panel makers, whose rapid expansion came to a crashing halt a few years ago.
China had long encouraged its solar manufacturers to capitalize on subsidized demand for solar panels in Europe and elsewhere, but now has to promote domestic installations to create an outlet for their production. The country accounts for about three-quarters of the world's solar manufacturing.
Global production of solar panels rose by 30 per cent last year thanks in large part to China's simplified approvals and permits for solar generation from buildings and other decentralized sources, said Ankit Mathur, project manager for alternative energy at GlobalData, which tracks the solar industry.
Japan, the Caribbean and the Middle East are also looking at large-scale solar generation, thanks to dropping costs.
Even with the increased demand, however, solar manufacturers still remain saddled with severe overcapacity. GlobalData estimates 15 per cent more panels are manufactured worldwide than is merited by demand.
This has been exacerbated by the unwillingness of China's central, provincial or local governments to allow solar manufacturers to fold. Instead, local governments have engineered takeovers and mergers, including the buyout of bankrupt Suntech, once the largest solar panel producer in the world.
Denmark's Vestas cemented its position as the world's leading wind turbine maker, while Trina Solar of China displaced Yingli Green Energy, also of China, as top panel maker.
Solar and wind producers benefited from China's drive to increase renewable energy's share of its power mix to 15 per cent by 2020, in an effort to cut smog and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Vestas outstripped its rivals for the second year running in
the amount of turbine generating capacity it sold in 2014, according to FTI Consulting, a global business advisory group.
Germany's Siemens was the second-biggest turbine maker last year, followed by China's Goldwind and General Electric of the US.
The top three solar panel producers are now all Chinese, with JinkoSolar displacing Sharp Corp of Japan for the third spot. Canadian Solar is fourth, and Sharp is now fifth.
A rush to build wind farms in China ahead of a feared subsidy cut this year was one reason more than 50 gigawatts of wind generating capacity was built globally in 2014, an increase of more than 40 per cent from 2013.
But this also masked the "underlying challenges facing the industry", said Aris Karcanias, a managing director at FTI Consulting. He pointed to fears that the US wind market could collapse next year if Congress fails to renew wind power production tax credits. "The market is still very much dependent on subsidies," he said.
That was also a problem for solar-panel makers, whose rapid expansion came to a crashing halt a few years ago.
China had long encouraged its solar manufacturers to capitalize on subsidized demand for solar panels in Europe and elsewhere, but now has to promote domestic installations to create an outlet for their production. The country accounts for about three-quarters of the world's solar manufacturing.
Global production of solar panels rose by 30 per cent last year thanks in large part to China's simplified approvals and permits for solar generation from buildings and other decentralized sources, said Ankit Mathur, project manager for alternative energy at GlobalData, which tracks the solar industry.
Japan, the Caribbean and the Middle East are also looking at large-scale solar generation, thanks to dropping costs.
Even with the increased demand, however, solar manufacturers still remain saddled with severe overcapacity. GlobalData estimates 15 per cent more panels are manufactured worldwide than is merited by demand.
This has been exacerbated by the unwillingness of China's central, provincial or local governments to allow solar manufacturers to fold. Instead, local governments have engineered takeovers and mergers, including the buyout of bankrupt Suntech, once the largest solar panel producer in the world.
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