Wind turbines totalling over 17GW were ordered globally in the second quarter of 2020, down 45% on 2019, according to new analysis from Wood Mackenzie.

The $16bn in orders still “represented a solid haul” and exceeded second quarter order intake for 2016, 2017 and 2018, the analysts said.

The US and China combined for a nearly 18GW drop in Q2 year-on-year order capacity, Wood Mackenzie said.

“This follows a record 2019 where developers in these regions accumulated a robust backlog ahead of policy changes scheduled for the year ahead,” it added.

Wood Mackenzie said a wave of offshore demand in the second quarter, in countries such as the UK, Netherlands and France, helped to lift overall turbine order capacity despite a drop in the US and China.

Global offshore order intake captured 38% – or 6.5GW – of all Q2 orders, which is an increase of 40% on last year.

Wood Mackenzie research director Luke Lewandowski said: “Chinese developers ordered more than 2GW of offshore turbine capacity for the sixth consecutive quarter, with Envision capturing 66% of Q2 demand in China.

“(Siemens Gamesa) and MHI Vestas each landed more than a gigawatt of orders in Europe for new offshore turbine models rated over 10MW.

“This flurry of orders for 10MW-plus turbines in Q2 helped to lift the average rating of global offshore orders to 7.5MW.

“Developers continue to seek higher-rated onshore models to maximise site constraints, with Siemens Gamesa Vestas and Nordex capturing all demand in Q2 for onshore models rated 5MW or higher.”

Wood Mackenzie said Siemens Gamesa edged ahead of Vestas for announced order intake in Q2, for both onshore and offshore, reaching 4.1GW.

Lewandowski said: “Although (Siemens Gamesa) topped the list for overall global turbine order intake, Vestas’ V150-4.2 won top onshore model for consecutive quarters after a particularly strong Q2 in Asia Pacific excluding China.

“In the offshore sector, Envision’s impressive haul in Q2 for its EN-161 5.2 model led to the company taking top spot for Q2, coming in slightly ahead of (Siemens Gamesa).”