Wind power industry

The wind power industry is involved with the design, manufacture, construction, and maintenance of wind turbines. The modern wind power industry began in 1979 with the serial production of wind turbines by Danish manufacturers. The industry is currently undergoing a period of rapid globalization and consolidation.

The wind power industry is the industry involved with the design, manufacture, construction, and maintenance of wind turbines. Although the wind power industry is small compared to those of the conventional power generation technologies (hydro, coal, natural gas, and nuclear), it is growing at a much faster rate (25% per year, from 2002 to 2007).

The modern wind power industry began in 1979 with the serial production of wind turbines by Danish manufacturers Kuriant, Vestas, Nordtank, and Bonus. Initially, most of these early turbines were installed in western Denmark. California, USA experienced a wind power boom from 1982 to 1986 when thousands of Danish and American wind turbines were installed in massive arrays. India got involved in wind power in the mid-1980s as well, while Germany and Spain gradually developed domestic wind power industries starting in the early 1990s.

The wind power industry is currently undergoing a period of rapid globalization and consolidation, with much of the recent wind farm development occurring outside the older established markets. Several large companies with market capitalizations greater than the entire wind power industry itself (General Electric, Siemens, BP) are now making large investments in wind power. To meet a global wind turbine supply shortage, start-up wind turbine manufacturers are still appearing and ramping up the production of their new wind turbine models as quickly as possible.

Wind turbine manufacturers design, test, manufacture, and assist with the operation and maintenance of wind turbines. Important choices facing them include turbine design (generator type, gearbox vs. gear-less, materials) and how much control to maintain over component supplies (internal vs. external). They must be concerned with maintaining their extensive fleets of operating turbines while at the same time developing newer and ever-larger models. The largest wind turbine manufacturers are based in Denmark, Germany, Spain, India, and USA.

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