GE, Vestas, Siemens supplying 76% of installed wind generating capacity in United States

Three manufacturers accounted for 76% or 55 gigawatts of installed wind generating capacity in the United States, as of the end of 2015, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

The three manufacturers — General Electric, Vestas, Siemens — also accounted for 92%, or 8.2 gigawatts, of new capacity added in 2015.

Two other companies, Gamesa and Mitsubishi, have built 6% and 5%, respectively, of U.S. wind turbine capacity as of the end of 2015. But they didn’t significantly contribute to the amount of new capacity added in 2015, according to the EIA. Acciona and Nordex at 6% and 2%, respectively, added the most capacity in 2015 after GE, Vestas and Siemens.

“GE has consistently been the dominant manufacturer of wind turbines installed in the United States since it purchased Enron’s wind business (formally Zond) in 2002,” according to the EIA. “Between 2005 and 2015, GE’s average annual share of installed capacity was 44% or 2.7 gigawatts per year.”

Globally, Chinese company Goldwind produced the most wind capacity in 2015, manufacturing 7.8 gigawatts, which was mostly installed in China. In 2015, Vestas, GE and Siemens were the second, third and fourth largest suppliers, respectively, of wind turbines in the world.

In the state, the Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corp. (AECC) has long-term power purchase agreements for approximately 373 megawatts of wind energy.