Author: Jiang Bo

Edited by Yang Yi

"There are talented people from generation to generation, each leading the way for hundreds of years."

Classics such as this sentence are also an excellent summary in China's wind power industry, which has passed its 15th birthday.

In the history of China's wind power development, the change of enterprise ranking is the reflection of the development of the industry.

Looking back at the wind power industry, in the 15 years from 2009 to 2023, under the influence of cyclical changes in the development of the industry and the "dual carbon" policy, it has undergone multiple rounds of reshuffle. In 2009, there were 63 wind power manufacturers in China, including 39 Chinese enterprises and 24 private enterprises. By 2023, there will be only 15 new machine manufacturers. During this period, the number of machine enterprises once reached more than 100.

In parallel with the entry and exit, the market competitiveness of wind turbine manufacturers is also changing, all of which is reflected in the annual list of new hoisting capacity. Through the list, it can be seen that some manufacturers once shined, but soon dimmed and disappeared; Some manufacturers were once unknown, but suddenly rose rapidly and became dark horses in the industry; There are also some manufacturers who have passed through the cycle many times and are firmly at the forefront of the industry.

Huaxia Energy Network counts the changes in the ranking order of the whole machine manufacturers in three time stages, and let's take a look at the changes in the wind power rivers and lakes in the past 15 years:

2009~2013 hoisting "top ten" (mapping/Huaxia Energy Network).

2014~2018 hoisting "top ten" (mapping/Huaxia Energy Network).

2019~2023 hoisting "top ten" (mapping/Huaxia Energy Network).

Starfall: There is no such thing as the Iron Throne forever

The development process of the wind power industry is inseparable from two key words: low-price competition and large-scale.

In fact, as early as 15 years ago, Sinovel Wind Power, a veteran machine manufacturer, made the most of these two strategies, which also established its leading position at that time.

Sinovel was established in 2006. At that time, the domestic wind power market was mostly 850kW small units, and Sinovel Wind Power introduced 1.5MW wind turbine production technology from Germany, and China's wind power achieved a jump from kW to MW. With the clear policy, Sinovel Wind Power, which has taken the lead, has taken the lead in the industry for more than 3 years.

After Sinovel seized the high point in the megawatt wind power market, it immediately adopted a low-price strategy to conquer the city. In 2008, when the Jiuquan Wind Turbine Project in Gansu Province was tendered, Sinovel Wind Power lowered the price at any cost and finally won a large number of orders. Since then, it has frequently bid at low prices to seize the leading position in the industry.

According to the data, from 2008 to 2010, Sinovel Wind Power's new wind power hoisting capacity ranked first in China for three consecutive years, and once ranked second in the world.

However, the aggressive strategy has brought achievements to Sinovel Wind Power, but also buried hidden dangers. The company soon exposed high accounts payable and inventory, frequent safety accidents and product quality problems, customer loss, and declining performance. In the end, the company's founder, Han Junliang, "falsely reported a revenue event of more than 2.4 billion", which became the "last straw" that crushed Sinovel Wind Power.

In 2017, after Han Junliang was sentenced, his old employer, Dalian Heavy Industry Group, completed the restructuring of Sinovel Wind Power, and delisted it three years later. During this period, in the annual new hoisting ranking list, Sinovel Wind Power's ranking has been declining, and after 2015, Sinovel Wind Power's name will no longer be seen in the TOP10 list.

Looking at the list of new hoisting rankings of the whole machine manufacturers in the past 15 years, the embarrassing "falls" also include Xiangdian Wind Energy and United Power.

Founded in 2006, Xiangdian Wind Energy has been extremely stable in its initial development, and has been ranked between 5th and 7th in the list for 9 years from 2009 to 2017. However, it has never been able to go to the next level, and has been declining since 2015, falling out of the top 5; In 2018, it slipped to 8th place, and in 2019, it continued to slide to 9th place. After 2020, it will completely disappear from the TOP10 list.

As for the reason for the decline in the ranking, Xiangdian Wind Energy once said that on the one hand, it is a misjudgment of the market, and on the other hand, the quality of purchased parts is not strictly controlled.

It is understood that due to the excessive emphasis on order quality and price, the company's orders have declined sharply since 2015; In addition, due to the quality of purchased parts, the company suffered heavy losses, and in 2018 alone, the quality loss of purchased parts for wind power was as high as 600 million yuan.

In addition, the complete defeat of Xiangdian Wind Energy was around the time of the "rush to install the tide" in 2020. Coincidentally in time, the once glorious joint power also ushered in a turning point in fate at this time.

Speaking of United Power, the brilliance is no less than that of Sinovel Wind Power.

From 2009 to 2010, United Power ranked 4th, 3rd in 2011, and 2nd for 4 consecutive years from 2012 to 2015. But after that, United Power's ranking began to decline, and Envision Group rushed up and became the "eye" of the industry.

From 2016 to 2018, United Power retreated to 4th place, 8th in 2019, and 10th place after 2020.

From the perspective of time, United Power lost to the rush to install the tide, but in fact, there are deeper reasons. United Power was first affiliated with Guodian Group, and the world's largest wind power operator, Longyuan Power, also belongs to the group. As the so-called "first-come-first-served month", since most of the orders within the group can be "digested internally", the stable development of United Power also benefits from this.

In November 2017, after the completion of the restructuring of China Energy Group, United Power was transferred to China Energy Group with Guodian Group. The decline in the ranking of United Power is also happening before and after.

However, there is also optimism behind the pessimism. Despite the decline in the rankings, United Power has always been among the top 10 in the industry, backed by the largest national energy group among the five major power groups, and the company still has the possibility of improving its ranking.

For Sinovel Wind Power and Xiangdian Wind Energy, they are not satisfied with the fate of falling. At present, Xiangdian Wind Energy has merged with Harbin Electric Wind Energy and changed its name to Xinglan Wind Power; Sinovel Wind Power is also officially controlled by Dalian Heavy Industries, and the purpose of Dalian Heavy Industries' move is to "realize the strategic upgrade from a wind power parts supplier to a complete machine supplier". Under the new changes, it is still unknown whether the two companies can regain their lives.

Rise of the Dark Horse: Success is never a matter of luck

At the same time as the giants abdicate, there must be "dark horses" to fill the position.

The list shows that in the past five years, Envision Energy, Yunda Co., Ltd. (SZ: 300772) and Sany Renewable Energy (SH: 688349) have been among the top 5 for a long time. Fifteen years ago, all three companies were unknown.

What is the force that has prompted them to successfully enter the mainstream of the industry in 10 years?

Among the three, Yunda has a strong background of state-owned enterprises, formerly known as the Wind Energy Research Institute of Zhejiang Mechanical and Electrical Design and Research Institute, and the actual controlling shareholder is Zhejiang Electromechanical Group; Sany Renewable Energy is backed by the domestic construction machinery giant Sany Heavy Industry, it is understood that Sany Renewable Energy has set a flag - to become Sany Heavy Industry in the field of wind power. In contrast, Envision Energy does not have a "big tree" behind it, it is a purely private, start-up wind power manufacturer, which has completely relied on scientific and technological innovation and flexible mechanisms to run to the forefront of the industry.

Founded in 2001, Yunda Co., Ltd. is a veritable veteran wind power manufacturer, but its fate is quite tortuous. In 2009, Yunda ranked eighth among domestic OEMs, but in the three years from 2010 to 2012, it retreated to the top ten, and did not return to the top ten (ranked tenth) until 2013. Since then, Yunda's ranking has slowly improved until it entered the TOP5 in 2019 and has been in the TOP5 since then.

In 2023, Yunda will squeeze Mingyang Intelligent out of the list, ranking third on the list.

Sany Renewable Energy is a representative of the "rising star", the company was not only established late (April 2008), but until 2019, its ranking was still outside the top 10. But in 2020, it suddenly jumped to 6th place, and in 2022 and 2023, it will be in the 5th position on the list.

Compared with Yunda and Sany Renewable Energy, Envision Energy has grown more rapidly. Before 2012, Envision Energy had not entered the TOP10, and in 2012 it jumped to 7th place. Since then, Envision Energy has been "all the way open", ranking in the TOP5 since 2013 and ranking second on the list since 2016. By 2023, there will be only 80.7MW of new lifting capacity compared to Goldwind, which ranks first.

It is worth mentioning that the rapid rise of the three dark horses of Yunda Co., Ltd., Sany Renewable Energy and Envision Energy is not unrelated to the dividends brought by the "rush to install tide" of wind power around 2020.

At that time, due to the sharp increase in demand for downstream orders and the limited production capacity of the head machine manufacturers, the industry appeared the phenomenon of "one machine is hard to find", and the incident of destroying orders occurred from time to time. These three companies happened to rely on their strong production capacity to accelerate the "order grabbing" and eat enough industry dividends. Moreover, the wind turbines at that time were generally at a high price, and the three companies could be said to have made a lot of money.

On closer inspection, the success base of the three manufacturers is slightly different.

The biggest advantage of Yunda is that its customer base is mainly central state-owned enterprises. In its listing prospectus, it introduced that "the company's customers are mainly central enterprises with strict internal assessment procedures, and once these enterprises become the company's customers, follow-up orders will increase year by year." ”

Sany Renewable Energy and Envision Energy have a common feature: the whole industry chain model. Since 2009, Envision Energy has gradually acquired the ability to develop and manufacture core components such as converters, pitch systems, generators, blades, gearboxes, and main bearings. The industrial chain of Sany Renewable Energy is even longer, and even the engine room, chassis, and wheel hub are self-developed and manufactured.

The biggest advantage of the whole industry chain model is that it is not constrained by the supply chain, which is also the key to their ability to ensure production capacity during the rush to install. But this model also carries significant risks: without large-scale manufacturing capacity and capacity absorption, it is difficult to cope with the high cost challenges of high inputs.

It is worth mentioning that in the wind power industry, Envision Energy has always been a "maverick" alternative: among the top five domestic wind power giants, Envision Energy is the only company that is not listed; While the industry is treating wind turbine manufacturing as a traditional manufacturing industry, Envision Energy has put forward the slogan of "using software to define wind turbines" to create an extremely eye-catching concept of "intelligent wind turbines". While industry enterprises are fighting for high-quality areas of wind resources, Envision Energy has developed low-speed wind turbines, which has opened up a new incremental market space.

It is precisely these many differentiated market strategies that have made Envision Energy a giant in the industry.

The Strong Are Strong: The Secret of Crossing the Cycle

The

law of development of mature industries is naturally "the strong are always strong". In the wind power industry, there are also several companies that are "evergreens" on the list, the most representative of which are Goldwind Technology (SZ: 002202) and Mingyang Intelligent (SH: 601615).

In the past 15 years, except for 2009 and 2010, Goldwind ranked behind Sinovel Wind Power, and the rest have been at the top of the list for 13 consecutive years, and in 2022 and 2023, the annual new lifting capacity has surpassed Vestas and ranked first in the world.

Since 2009, Mingyang Intelligent has been ranked among the top 5 in the industry for 15 years, and in the 10 years from 2013 to 2022, it has ranked 3rd except for 4th in 2015.

In 2023, in the field of offshore wind power, Mingyang Intelligent's new installed capacity will surpass that of electric wind power, breaking the latter's leading position as a sea breeze leader for more than 10 years, and winning the "Iron Throne" of sea wind machine manufacturers.

Goldwind Technology and Mingyang Intelligent have an indissoluble bond with Wang Wenqi, a domestic wind power predecessor.

Wang Wenqi is one of the founders of China's wind power industry, and served as the director of the Xinjiang Water Conservancy and Hydropower Research Institute, and Wuhan Iron and Steel, the "head" of Goldwind, was deeply influenced by him. With the help of Wang Wenqi, Mingyang Intelligent signed a commissioned design and development contract with Aerodyn, a famous wind turbine design company in Germany, and entrusted the latter to design wind turbines for the company.

However, there are obvious differences between Goldwind and Mingyang Intelligent in many aspects such as technology and business style. In terms of the choice of technical paths (doubly-fed, direct-drive, and semi-direct-drive), Goldwind has always preferred permanent magnet direct-drive technology, while Mingyang Intelligent is a supporter of semi-direct-drive.

In terms of business strategy, Goldwind appears to be conservative and steady, while Mingyang Intelligence is relatively aggressive. For example, in the field of sea breeze, which is currently the hottest area under development, Goldwind has rolled off the assembly line of 16MW units in 2022, but it has not made a big deal to take orders and grab projects. Mingyang Intelligent not only seeks breakthroughs in the capacity of a single machine, but also dares to dare to do new technologies such as floating and "double-headed" units, which can be described as "brave".

Wu Gang, the head of Goldwind Technology, once said that after the development of the enterprise reaches a certain stage, it will gradually enter the "multi-legged" mode of capital operation, asset management and production, scientific research and management. Therefore, Goldwind has always emphasized the balanced development of its business. Goldwind's development ideas are inseparable from the guiding ideology of the head.

In terms of products, Goldwind and Mingyang Intelligent not only cover the sea and land, but also have corresponding products in various scenarios such as centralized, large base, decentralized, conventional altitude, and high altitude. In terms of customer development, not only the orders of central enterprises, but also the orders of local and private enterprises are also in hand, and they are relatively scattered, and the dependence on large customers is low; In terms of market, the two companies have domestic and overseas layouts.

In addition, in the past 15 years, the top 10 wind turbine manufacturers have also been Electric Wind Power (SH: 688660, Shanghai Electric), Dongfang Wind Power (Dongqi) and China Haizhuang (Haizhuang Wind Power). Over the past 15 years, the rankings of the three have roughly fluctuated between 6th and 9th place.

Among them, the best ranking of electric wind power on the list of complete machine manufacturers is in 2020, ranking 4th. It has won the first place in offshore wind power for 8 consecutive years;

Dongfang Electric's best ranking was in 2009 and 2010, ranking third only to Sinovel Wind Power and Goldwind;

The best ranking of China Haizhuang is from 2015 to 2017, ranking 5th for 3 consecutive years.

The three machine manufacturers, Electric Wind Power, Dongfang Wind Power and China Haizhuang Equipment, all have the background of central state-owned enterprises and have the foundation of high-precision and large-scale manufacturing. In terms of market selection, especially electric wind power and Dongfang wind power, offshore wind power is more inclined in the early stage of development. Therefore, after the rush to install offshore wind power in 2021, the two companies were the most affected due to the weak development of offshore wind power.

However, the turning point of the sea breeze market has appeared, and as the development of sea breeze has entered a new period of rapid development, the three manufacturers have ushered in a favorable situation and have begun to accelerate R&D and market layout

At the end of June this year, the 18 MW medium-speed fully integrated offshore wind turbine independently developed by China Haizhuang was hoisted in Liaoning; At the beginning of August, the first prototype of the 18-megawatt platform developed and produced by Electric Wind Power was hoisted in Guangdong; On October 12, Dongfang Electric rolled off the assembly line of the world's largest 26 MW offshore wind turbine ...... with completely independent intellectual property rights

However, while the prospect of the sea breeze market is opened, it is also facing more fierce competition, with the continuous increase of Goldwind Technology and Mingyang Intelligence, and the bold test of Sany Renewable Energy and Yunda shares.