Wind Turbine Gear Oil Market - Forecast(2023 - 2028)

Wind Turbine Gear Oil Market Overview

The Wind Turbine Gear Oil market size is estimated to reach US$1.2 billion by 2027 after growing at a CAGR of 3.7% from 2022 to 2027. Gear Oil plays an important role in keeping wind turbines run efficiently and reliably. Due to of the extreme conditions faced by the wind turbines, there are a number of parts that require hydrodynamic lubrication. There are different categories for selecting particular gear oil which includes water resistant, corrosion protection, remain in viscosity many more. There are different types of gear oil like synthetic gear oil (also known as poly alfa olefin PAO) such as Polyalkylene Glycol, mineral gear oil bio-based gear oil. The best type is the Poly Alpha Olefin (PAO) as it displays very good low temperature behaviour excellent viscosity behaviour. Therefore, there comes different factors before selecting a lubricant combined with low maintenance cost, lesser oil changes or safer environment. 

COVID-19 Impact

The pandemic has affected many countries across various sectors. The energy sector is closely related to all the activities in an economy to run. The overall impact is on the supply demand of power in the short term. From 2020 starting, the wind industry has difficulty in adjusting the CVOID-19 and its consequences over the past 18 months. Due to disrupted projects supply chains, there is a lot delay going in the production of wind industry. To produce energy using renewable sources, the main aim is to produce less CO2 emissions using more energy-efficient tools and technology for greener environment. But due to COVID-19, the reductions in CO2 emissions have been short termed, as companies are having a hard time in investing in renewable energy due to its increasing prices. According to International Energy Agency, Covid-19 lockdown measures have resulted in weekly electricity demand decreasing by 10-35% across all the affected regions. Thus, though the impact of COVID is not very much on wind turbines, but the industry will regain its growth after the COVID recession.

Report Coverage 

The “Wind Turbine Gear Oil Market Report – Forecast (2022-2027)”, by IndustryARC covers an in-depth analysis of the following segments of the Wind Turbine Gear Oil market industry.

By Product – Synthetic Gear Oil, Mineral Gear Oil Bio-Based Oil.
By Components- Wind Turbine Blades, Main Shaft Bearings, Gearbox Others.
By Application – Onshore, Offshore.
By Geography – North America (USA, Canada, Mexico), Europe (UK, Germany, France, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Russia, Belgium, Rest of Europe), Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, India, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Taiwan, Malaysia, Rest of APAC), South America (Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Rest of South America), Rest of the World (Middle East Africa)

Key Takeaways

• Wind turbine gear oils are majorly produced in Asia-Pacific with major countries like China, Japan South Korea which are contributing in the growth of wind turbines.
• Mineral-based gear oils are the largest the oldest produced gear oils which are used in gearboxes for better efficiency wear protection.
• As wind turbine gear oil are used in wind turbines, it is a sustainable source of energy which is cost efficient, environment friendly widely accepted by the world.

Figure: Asia Pacific Wind Turbine Gear Oil Market Revenue, 2021-2027 (US$ Billion)

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Wind Turbine Gear Oil Market Segment Analysis – By Product

Mineral-based gear oil held the largest share in the wind turbine gear oil market in 2021. It is expected to grow with a CAGR of over 3.0% during the forecast period. There are three types of gear oil used in the wind turbines while the largest the oldest used is mineral-based gear oil. The mineral-based gear oil makes the gearbox work efficiently for a longer period of time with no additional services require for a long period of time when compared to other gear oils. Though mineral-based gear oils are not sustainable but when it is used with considerable amounts of additives, it helps to overcome the lack of inherent base fluid properties like wear protection, oxidation stability, load carrying capacity, low temperature solidification drop of viscosity at higher temperatures. According to Energy Information Administration, the wind-power industry’s share in the global net electricity generation from renewable power will grow rapidly from 11% in 2012 to 19% in 2020 23% in 2040. These numbers suggest that the industry will grow as a reliable source of energy in the long term. Thus, mineral-based gear oils are mainly used in wind turbines to overcome different problems.

Wind Turbine Gear Oil Market Segment Analysis – By Application

Offshore gear oil held the largest share in the wind turbine gear oil market in 2021. It is expected to grow with a CAGR of over 4.5% during the forecast period. There are two types of wind turbine installations, onshore offshore, where oil drain intervals range from up to six years for onshore turbines, it takes up to 7-10 years for offshore installations. The average drain time increase gradually with consumption of good quality gear oil for the gearbox. As the wind turbines needs appropriate locations for wind farms which is becoming a big concern for many manufacturers, but this has resulted in development of offshore wind farms. Also the offshore installed power is increasing year after year the general tendency of the wind turbine sizes grow. According to International Energy Agency, Offshore wind generation growth amounted to 25 TWh (+29%) in 2020, with capacity additions of 6 GW. Thus, overall, 1592 TWh of electricity were generated from wind installations in 2020, 12% more than in 2019. Therefore, the wind turbine have larger share when installed offshore, when compared to onshore.

Wind Turbine Gear Oil Market Segment Analysis – By Geography

The Asia Pacific is the leading region accounted for the largest share in the global wind turbine gear oil market in 2021, with a share of over 32%. Asia is set to become a leader soon in offshore wind turbine energy. The Asia-Pacific includes all the major countries like China, India Japan. According to Global Wind Energy Council, China is expected to continue its domination of the Asian offshore wind turbine energy with more than 70% market share. However, with recent developments in emerging markets like Taiwan, Japan, Vietnam South Korea India, the market share of China will decrease by 2025. According to World Population Review, the largest producer of wind energy is China generating 236,402 megawatts in 2019, about 36.3% of total global capacity produced. The third position is taken by India with 37.506 megawatts produced in 2019. The speed of the wind turbine is also dependent on the weather conditions on an area. Thus, Asia-Pacific is one of the most favourable region to set up a wind turbine, thus is the leading market in wind energy.

Wind Turbine Gear Oil Market Drivers

Increase in need of lubrication in gearboxes

A gearbox in a wind turbine is used for the wind direction, pitch drive that adjust the blade angle, to speed the torque rotation. The main purpose of using oil in gearbox is to reduce friction. The oil also keeps the gearbox clean and protects the metal surface from corrosion. A good quality of gear oil means a more reliable gearbox. The lubricant is selected based on its different properties like viscosity, viscosity index, pour point, additives. As many new kinds of gear oil are manufactured, it can even reduce the time labour cost by using special oil-change equipment for the wind turbines. Synthetic gear oils let the gearbox operate more efficiently in colder ambient temperatures also have higher viscosity index. Lubricant or gear oil consumption per megawatt (MW) capacity of a wind-turbine decreases with increasing MW capacity. According to Wind Power Engineering, Synthetic lubricants are estimated to account for more than 80% of total lubricant consumption by the industry, gear oils have the highest penetration of synthetic products. Thus, gear oil is used maximum in the gearboxes of wind turbines to reduce friction.

Use of renewable energy sources

As wind energy is a renewable source of energy which is sustainable for the environment does not pollute the air like power plants, it is widely accepted in the world. It is actually a form of solar energy as winds are caused by the heating of the atmosphere by the sun the rotation of the earth as long as the sun shines the wind blows, the energy produced can be harnessed to send power across the grid. Another advantage of using wind energy is its cost effectiveness. Land-based utility scale wind is one of the lowest-priced energy sources available today, costing 1-2 cents per kilowatt/hour. As the energy produced from the wind farms is sold at a fixed from a long period of time, wind energy mitigates the price uncertainty that fuel costs add to traditional sources of energy. It is also a source of income for many employees working in the wind energy sector. According to the Global Wind Energy Council Outlook spring 2020, Global installed wind energy capacity is estimated to grow at a compound annual rate of 9.1%, from 650.1 gigawatts in 2019 to 1,005 GW by 2024. Thus, the increased use wind energy explains the increased use of wind turbine gear oil in the market.

Wind Turbine Gear Oil Market Challenges

Deteriorating performance due to moisture in gearbox

Gear oil deterioration is associated with oxidation due to heat, additive exhaustion contamination. In contaminants, water is the most worrying contaminant. While any particular matter or sludge can be filtered out, it is very difficult to remove water from the gearbox as when doing it the whole oils needs to be replaced. For most wind-turbine gear box oils, the critical concentration of water is less than 500 ppm. Whenever the water level exceeds that limit, the lubricant i.e. the gear oil degrades with additive sedimentation. Water also causes film breakdown, oil oxidation as well as corrosion. Thus some new kind of gear oils are used which resist water but those are not the ideal kind of gear oils. According to Vindforsk, About 70 % of the gearbox failures are due to bearing failures where bearing failure can be caused by water contamination. Thus, small amount of water can disrupt the functioning of a high maintenance machine like wind turbines.

Wind Turbine Gear Oil Industry Outlook

Global wind turbine gear oil market top 10 companies include:

1. Vestas Wind Systems A/S
2. General Electric Company
3. Exxon Mobil Corporation
4. Klüber Lubrication .
5. Nordex SE
6. Zhejiang Windey Co.Ltd.
7. Shell
8. Envision Energy
9. AMSOIL Inc.
10. Shanghai Electric Group

Recent Developments

• In March 2022, General Electric Company unveils a prototype of a recyclable wind turbine blade using a special resin from a French company high-performance glass materials. Otherwise, wind turbine blades are made up of carbon, which is a non-renewable source.
• In March 2021, Zhejiang Windey Co. launched the largest wind turbine model of the world with an area of 24000 m2 under the average wind speed of 7 m/s the annual equivalent hours are more than 3,500 hours, which enables it to have excellent power generation performance.
• In May 2019, Shell launches new gearbox oil for extended wind-turbine uptime to reduce unplanned breakdown by offering enhanced protection to make a significant impact on profitability.

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