Wind Turbine O&M Market to Double by 2020

Global wind turbine installations recently surpassed 300GW; with an increasing number of turbines coming off-warranty. MAKE Consulting said in its report that it expects an additional 300GW of capacity additions over the next 6 years, creating significant opportunities for the wind turbine operations and maintenance (O&M) sector.

The addressable market of wind turbine operations and maintenance is expected to exceed USD 13 Billion in revenue opportunity by 2020, driven by an installed base that will reach nearly 700 GW globally. The O&M market will experience double-digit annual growth until 2020, providing a robust market for a wide variety of stakeholders.

Strategies to serve the wind turbine O&M market are shifting quickly, to adapt to the needs of asset owners and the growing installed base.

Uncertainty in new turbine installation demand has resulted in wind turbine original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) intensifying their focus on servicing the installed base. O&M revenue is more dependable than new turbine sales, and can be tremendously profitable, despite lower volume.

Many asset owners are beginning to take more control over their assets, by building internal teams to perform routing maintenance across their fleets. The cost-effectiveness of this selfperform strategy depends upon the turbine technology within the fleet, geographic diversity of assets and maturity of asset owner.

The increasing prominence of the selfperform model and renewed focus by turbine OEMs has left independent service providers (ISPs) with the prospect of shrinking market share, despite a significant increase in the addressable market. As a result, ISPs have also become more creative in their commercial and technical offering to effectively compete.

A key trend emerging globally is the prospect for increased cooperation between OEMs, ISPs and Asset owners to leverage expertise of each stakeholder and reduce the overall cost of service.

Competitive differentiation across the O&M value chain requires unique skillsets within each segment of the market. Cost effective scheduled maintenance is wholly dependent upon scale economies present with a qualified regional labor pool.

Conversely, major corrective repair requires innovative approach to low-cost repairs, access to spare parts and advanced diagnostics. As a result, there will be an increasing amount of fragmentation within the O&M market, as key players seek to leverage their core competencies and reduce the cost of O&M to asset owners.