Rapid technology developments have been a large driver of elevating wind to a competitive source of power generation globally. The new technology investments are focusing on building bigger and better wind turbines.
According to the latest edition of the Global Wind Turbine Technology Trends report, published by Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables, rapid innovations through to 2027 will serve to continue reducing the Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCoE) on the latest wind turbines while at the same time improving their performance and reliability.
The auction systems are driving down power prices worldwide and with the shift away from generous incentive mechanisms the wind energy industry will now need to compete on their own and, in an effort to ensure that prices stay low — and continue to drop — cost reductions will need to come from somewhere.
That “somewhere” is the technology value chain, which will seek to maximize profit through investing in innovative design, manufacturing, and maintenance mechanisms.
According to Wood Mackenzie, the global market share of the top five turbine OEMs to rise to more than 73% come 2027, compared to just 54% in 2016.
The research predicts the newest platforms will have fewer product variants delivering the same demand volume, reinforcing the evolutionary product strategy approach many turbine OEMs are pursuing.
Reference- Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables Report, Cleantechnica