Supply Chain A Major Hinderance To APAC’s Wind Projects: GWEC

Offshore wind is grappling with supply chain challenges, particularly in accessing onshore wind nacelles. A GWEC report found that China is the dominant supplier in the Asian Pacific (APAC) region. According to Global Wind Energy (GWEC), China holds an 85% Onshore market share,  India and South Korea’s nacelle capacity is focused solely on onshore projects, driven by companies such as Suzlon, Inox, Adani, and Senvion India in India, and Doosan and Unison in South Korea. These companies have committed to make significant investments at RE Invest 2024, with plans to add 11 GW of turbine manufacturing capacity between 2025 and 2030.

GWEC report found regional demand for nacelle assembly, key components, offshore wind balance-of-plant, and offshore wind enablers is expected to be met by known APAC suppliers until 2030. However, minor bottlenecks are anticipated for offshore wind gearboxes in 2029 and blades in 2030. As many suppliers are based in China and India (primarily focused on onshore wind), the study also examined concentration risks. It found that without contributions from Chinese and Indian supply and demand, the region would face immediate bottlenecks. Without China, the APAC region would experience immediate shortages in onshore wind castings and offshore wind gearboxes, generators, blades, and power converters. Without both India and China, critical bottlenecks would affect all key components of onshore wind, except for towers.

Between 2024 and 2030, operational offshore wind capacity in the APAC region is projected to increase sixfold. Over 120 GW of new offshore wind capacity is forecasted to be installed across the APAC region during this period, bringing the cumulative regional total to 160 GW by 2030. As with onshore wind, China remains the largest offshore wind market, with over 130 GW of capacity expected to be operational by the end of the decade.

Key Challenges 

There are four key challenges affecting the offshore wind energy industry according to APAC report, namely, Volatile policy and market demand which are preventing industry from adjusting and scaling production capacity, second is lack of coordinated investments in large infrastructure such as grids, ports, and roads as well as major equipment like vessels are impeding regional connectivity and trade, third barrier is difficulty in achieving standardization.

Market Estimates 

India and China current have a stronghold on the offshore wind energy market, they have has the biggest onshore blades production capacity. This is followed by South Korea, whose capacities are rather limited in comparison to China and India. The Chinese manufacturers
overwhelmingly dominate wind turbine blades the supply in the APAC region, and can produce 100 GW of blades annually for onshore wind projects. Excluding China, India has the biggest onshore blades production capacity, followed by South Korea, whose capacities are rather limited in comparison