As one of key components of a wind generating set, the wind power converter accounts for 17.9% of costs of wind power equipment automation products. It can optimize the operation of wind power system, improve the efficiency of wind turbine, reduce power loss, and raise utilization of wind energy.
In 2014, the global installed wind power capacity increased by 47.3GW, up 33.9% from a year earlier. In particular, China contributed 17.7GW, a 9.6% rise year on year, ranking the world’s first for five consecutive years.
Driven by the resumption of offshore wind power projects in August 2013 and the State’s support for wind power industry, the output value of China’s wind power converter industry amounted to RMB5.8 billion in 2014, up 11.5% from a year earlier. The demand was 10,727 sets, rising by 14.7%, year on year.
At present, the 1.5MW and 2MW wind power converters are widely used in the market, with the total demand for both accounting for more than 80%. In the future, as offshore wind power expands, the industry’s R&D focus will be shifted to 5MW-10MW wind power converters.
Now that China’s wind power industry started relatively late, the domestic wind power converter market was monopolized by the foreign players like ABB, Emerson, and Siemens. In contrast, the Chinese enterprises such as Sungrow Power Supply, Hi-Tech Control, Zhuzhou CSR Times Electric occupied a mere 5% market share.