The 3 largest wind turbine companies in the West, namely GE, Siemens Gamesa, and Vestas, have been in constant competition with one another over the supremacy for the wind energy sector’s 3 factors of revenue: offshore, onshore, and services. It only takes one technology strategically introduced in order to propel either company into the top spot.

Siemens Gamesa has undergone a recent change in leadership in the offshore department. Their current priority is sticking to what the offshore unit is best at and replicating it in multiple areas. Acquiring the company Senvion is a power move that aims to close the gap of competition with Vestas in the services revenue.

Leading the race in the onshore department is Vestas. Its recent venture with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, or MHI, in the offshore market, has been challenging. This leads to Vestas buying out MHI. As the company struggles to capitalize, GE makes its move for the offshore sector.

GE has just launched its 12-Megawatt Haliade-X platform last 2018. With this, a declaration to be the offshore wind market leader is made. Vestas has no plans to be in second place and has recently announced its launch of V236-15MW, the soon-to-be largest wind turbine in the world.

The diameter of V236-15MW measures 236 meters, which is larger than Siemens Gamesa’s 222-meter wind turbine. Behind the move is Vestas’ admission of being on the ropes if nothing new is to be done in their offshore department. The production of the world’s largest wind turbine will start in 2024.

Although Vestas move is admirable, skeptics believe that the company is still behind in the competition. If Vestas have introduced it 2 years earlier, they might dominate the landscape of the wind industry. Regardless, the offshore market has been the target of the 3 major companies to obtain as much revenue as possible.