European wind turbine manufacturers, including Vestas and Nordex, are experiencing a recovery in the market, with increasing order intake in the first half of 2026. Vestas reported a significant 52.7% increase in first-half order intake, reaching 7.853 GW, while Nordex saw a 9.6% increase to 4.923 GW. This combined 12.8 GW of orders represents a 32.6% increase over the same period in 2025. This positive trend follows several difficult years for the industry, marked by financial strains due to high inflation, increased logistics costs, and supply chain disruptions.
The recovery is not uniform across all manufacturers, with Vestas capturing approximately 61% of the combined H1 order volume. This divergence highlights the importance of factors like OEM positioning, geographic exposure, and product availability. Despite past challenges, European manufacturers continue to dominate the global market outside China, holding a combined 72.8% share in 2023. The European wind industry also supports approximately 330,000 jobs, with potential growth to 564,000 by 2030, and contributed EUR $42 billion to the EU’s GDP in 2022.
While Europe is striving to bolster its domestic wind turbine industry to meet its energy and climate goals, it faces a dilemma regarding reliance on Chinese components and potential cost increases for "made in Europe" products. China remains a leading supplier of raw materials and essential components for the wind industry, although its share of wind turbine and component exports to the EU decreased from 83% to about 30% between 2018 and 2023, with India overtaking it as the major exporter. The European Commission's Wind Power Package, released in October 2023, outlines 15 measures to enhance the competitiveness of Europe’s wind supply chain, with companies investing billions of euros to expand manufacturing capacity. However, new entrants like China's Envision Energy are launching offshore wind turbines into the European market, aiming to provide alternatives to established players like Vestas and Siemens Gamesa.
