Chinese wind turbine manufacturers are already in Europe and WindEnergy Hamburg is proof

For those who don’t know, Wind Energy Hamburg is the largest wind industry fair in Europe. It is held biennially, and unlike WindEurope fairs, it is organized in a way that we might consider more “independent.”

This makes it a more open fair, where manufacturers and suppliers from all over the world actively participate, including the Chinese OEMs. And this edition of Wind Energy Hamburg has seen the highest presence and prominence of Chinese manufacturers in its history. The feeling is that their commitment to the European market is clear.

It’s not the first (nor the last) time we’ve talked here about Chinese manufacturers and their incursion into the European Union. And although much is said about the “Chinese threat“, the reality is that Europe (and especially the EU) remains a territory where only a few contracts have been awarded so far (which we covered in Windletter #76). In fact, according to Wood Mackenzie, Chinese OEMs only represented 0.4% of installed capacity in the EU between 2013 and 2023.

That said, Wind Energy Hamburg has been a clear demonstration that the Chinese are already trying to enter the European market decisively and without hesitation.

Leading the Chinese advance has been Paulo Soares, with extensive management experience in leading OEMs, who is now Managing Director of Sany for Europe.

Soares made several remarks that did not go unnoticed, questioning “who subsidizes whom,” referring to the multitude of components that European manufacturers buy from China. He has also been very active on social media lately, pointing out some of the weak points in the European discourse when it comes to protecting the local supply chain, such as Envision’s arrival in Spain to manufacture batteries, Mingyang’s potential entry into Italy, or the agreement between Mingyang and Siemens China, the extent of which is still unknown.

Regarding product presentations, Sany introduced two models for the European market, with 7.8 MW and 175-meter rotors, and 8 MW and 185-meter rotors, respectively. These models are aimed directly at competing with the next generation of onshore turbines from Western OEMs, which will likely coincide with Sany’s goal of installing series turbines in Germany by 2026.

Other announcements from Chinese manufacturers also included:

• CRRC and its 20 MW floating wind turbine.
• Mingyang continues showing its strength with offshore, with the OceanX, and the MySE 18.X-20-292 prototype.
• Windey calling for competition and even cooperation as a way to continue improving. There are also rumors of a 25 MW prototype with a rotor diameter of over 300 meters using DFIG technology.

It’s also interesting that Goldwind and Envision did not attend the fair, although I know they are also moving and hiring staff for their development in the European market.

You can read more about this from our friend Kiko Maza (who published first) with his excellent virtual visit to Wind Energy Hamburg, where he covers this and other very interesting topics.

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