Vestas is on a roll. The company is consistently receiving new orders globally and is pacing itself nicely in the wake of a highly profitable first quarter. The Danish wind turbine maker has been making the best of demand which began soaring last year.
Early this year, Vestas announced that it had posted a full-year of profit in 2014. It was the first time it had happened for the company since 2010.
The company was also the global topper in turbine supplier rankings for 2014 leading in sales of both onshore and offshore units.
The first quarter of 2015 has also seen the company make marked progress as it reported record order intake of 1.75 gigawatts and highest return on invested capital of 44 percent, among other things.
From April to June the company has announced orders to the tune of 2,467 megawatts on its website. It will be adding unannounced orders in the interim report for the quarter due in August.
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In July the company has announced orders to the tune of 118 megawatts taking the total capacity of orders to 4,335 megawatts this year. In 2014, the total of announced orders was 6,544 megawatts.
In sum, there are adequate indications that the company is headed for a sound second quarter showing as well.
According to market analysts, there is a huge potential awaiting in the wind energy market. One global industry analysis forecast that the market was poised for incredible growth from 2014 to 2020.
The market which stood at $89.3 billion in 2013 is expected to touch $898 billion by 2020, at CAGR of 29.6 percent during the forecast period.
And from among the main segments in the market namely North America, Asia-Pacific, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and South and Central America, the analysts bet on Asia-Pacific to be the region that would fetch highest demand.
Currently the region is the largest market for onshore wind energy, particularly as India and China show greater interest in renewable energy.
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In India Vestas has installed a total of 4,503 turbines with cumulative capacity of 2,923 megawatts as of 2015. China has installed 3,615 Vestas turbines for total capacity of 4,642 megawatts as of 2015, the company website says.
China recorded wind installations totaling 16,030 MW in 2013, indicating its potential as the largest onshore wind energy market.
In Q1, 2015, though, Vestas received much of its orders from the Americas (718MW) and EMEA (457MW). It received only 96 megawatts worth of orders from Asia-Pacific. However, the interesting aspect was that the orders from Asia-Pacific were a 1,500 percent increase quarter on quarter, whereas orders from EMEA were an 8 percent decrease quarter on quarter.
With the incumbent government in the UK cutting subsidies on wind projects the market in the region could be affected, although not significantly this quarter.
The company will be looking at offshore wind turbine sector to draw more orders from the region.
Overall, the outlook for Vestas appears to be positive as it continues to receive a steady flow of orders and has been consistently registering profits.
Ajith Kumar S
This article is part of a series in which Greentechlead.com will be focusing on clean energy companies.