Doug Kanter, New York Times
Workers assembled wind turbines at the Gamesa factory in Tianjin, China, in mid-October. The Spanish company once controlled a third of the Chinese market, but with government help, Chinese companies now control 85 percent of the wind turbine business in the country.
Made in China
Wind turbine maker Gamesa helped grow Chinese companies to meet government requirements, and now has lost market share to them.
TIANJIN, CHINA - Judging by the din at its factory here one recent day, the Spanish company Gamesa might seem to be a thriving player in the Chinese wind energy industry it helped create.
But Gamesa has learned the hard way, as other foreign manufacturers have, that competing for China's lucrative business means playing by house rules that are often stacked in Beijing's favor.
Nearly all the components that Gamesa assembles into million-dollar turbines here, for example, are made by local suppliers -- companies Gamesa trained to meet onerous local content requirements. And these same suppliers undermine Gamesa by selling parts to its Chinese competitors -- wind turbine makers that barely existed in 2005, when Gamesa controlled more than one-third of the Chinese market.
But in the five years since, the upstarts have grabbed more than 85 percent of the wind turbine market, aided by low-interest loans and cheap land from the government, as well as preferential contracts from the state-owned power companies that are the main buyers of the equipment. Gamesa's market share now is only 3 percent.
With their government-bestowed blessings, Chinese companies have flourished and now control almost half of the $45 billion global market for wind turbines. The biggest of those players are now taking aim at foreign markets, particularly the United States, where General Electric has long been the leader.
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