Offshore Wind Sector Growth to Drive Global Wind Automation Market

Steep growth in the offshore wind market, rise in wind energy trade, and significant increase in technology research investment are key emerging trends that will impact the wind automation market growth through 2020, according to Technavio.

In its latest market research study, Technavio said it defines emerging trends as something that has potential for significant impact on the market and contributes to its growth or decline.

“Key findings of this market study predict the wind automation market in EMEA to reach close to USD 808 million by 2020. In Germany, more than 24.5% of the total electricity generated was produced using renewable energy in 2015. Similarly, in the UK, as per the 2009 EU Renewables Directive, the target is to use renewable sources to produce 15% of the total energy generation of the country. This trend is predicted to be emulated in other geographies as well and boost the adoption of automation solutions in the wind power industry over the next four years,” said Bharath Kanniappan, one of Technavio’s industry analysts for automation research.

“The wind power market in Africa also finds high investments by large international vendors. For instance, Google announced in 2015 that it would invest in a Lake Turkana wind power project in Kenya. This project is expected to generate close to 1,400 GWh of electricity per year on completion and account for close to 15% of the country’s overall electricity consumption,” Bharath added.

With a high ROI, the global offshore wind power experienced a robust CAGR of around 20% during 2013-2015. With increased focus on offshore wind power globally, the demand for automation solutions from offshore wind power projects is expected to be more in comparison to on-shore wind power projects during the forecast period.

Furthermore, wind energy power source is globally used as a supplement to coal, hydro, and oil and gas power sources. Owing to its growing popularity, wind sites are being used as the only source for electricity in some countries. The market research company estimates that during the forecast period new and improved wind storage technologies will be implemented, and energy trade between different countries will take place in large volumes.

In addition, investments made towards technology research for renewable energy worldwide include money set aside for biopower, geothermal, hydro, ocean power, solar, and wind. These investments are expected to grow at a CAGR of 20% during the forecast period. Technavio said it estimates that investments in the technology research for wind power will grow at a CAGR of 40% during the forecast period. The investments will include research for new and advanced turbines, control systems, advanced substations and wind farms, and new power generation and transmission grid technologies.