China's Yangjiang emerges as global wind power export hub

Photo shows a wind farm in Yangjiang, south China's Guangdong province. (Photo/Lyu Huadang)

At the southern shoreline of the Yangjiang High-tech Industrial Development Zone in Yangjiang, south China's Guangdong province, strong sea winds rattle the iron gates of Guangdong Longma Casting Co., Ltd. (Longma)

Inside the company's laboratory, quality inspections are a daily routine. "Our large castings are mainly used in offshore wind power equipment, and the physical and chemical properties of raw materials directly affect product quality. Every batch must go through strict testing," said Yuan Jie, head of the laboratory.

The company specializes in the four core heavy components for offshore wind power equipment: hubs, bases, shaft systems, and bearing housings -- key parts that keep wind farms running efficiently.

"Since last year, our export business has been performing well. In the first quarter of this year, our export value exceeded 26 million yuan ($3.8 million), maintaining stable growth compared with the same period last year. On April 25, we just shipped another batch of hubs and bases to Europe," said Liu Bin, the company's general manager.

In the first quarter of this year, China's exports of wind turbines and related parts rose strongly, with a year-on-year increase of 45.2 percent. For industry players like Longma, strengthening core competitiveness has been the key to winning overseas customers.

In Longma's precision machining workshop, a newly developed giant machine is playing a major role.

"This is our independently developed gantry turning-milling composite machine, which integrates turning and milling processes into one system. It has reduced the original four steps in shaft system processing to just two, improving efficiency by more than 40 percent," Liu said.

The machine can handle ultra-large castings with a diameter of up to 10 meters, turning what once required four separate machines into a one-stop process -- offering a game-changing solution for large-scale equipment manufacturing across the industry.

Photo shows a workshop of a wind power equipment manufacturer in Yangjiang, south China's Guangdong province. (Photo/Liang Jianqing)

Having operated in the Yangjiang wind power equipment manufacturing base for nearly eight years, Longma values the increasingly complete industrial ecosystem.

Along this narrow stretch of coastline are leading turbine manufacturers such as Ming Yang Smart Energy and Goldwind, as well as more than 30 core component suppliers. The cluster covers key segments of the wind power industry -- from complete turbines and blades to tower tubes and submarine cables -- with manufacturing, research and development, testing and certification, and operation and maintenance working in seamless collaboration.

This has also changed the export model.

In addition to directly exporting components, more and more of the products manufactured by Longma are now supplied to nearby downstream customers, which then export complete wind turbine units overseas.

"We expect this year's shipment volume to increase by more than 40 percent compared with last year, and domestic orders now account for a larger share," Liu said.

In recent years, thanks to advantages in manufacturing processes, supply chain support, and logistics services, Chinese wind turbine manufacturers have become more competitive overseas, with stronger delivery capabilities and steadily rising global market share.

"As a result, domestic orders from complete machine manufacturers have been growing even faster for us," Liu added.

Just a 10-minute drive northwest from Longma is Min Yang Smart Energy's Yangjiang base.

As a leading turbine manufacturer and a key player in the wind power equipment industrial chain, Ming Yang Smart Energy serves as an important link between suppliers and global markets.

Inside the base's assembly workshop, Ye Guanglun, assistant plant manager pointed to several large, round, solid components.

"These are turbine hubs, the core parts that connect the blades to the main shaft," he explained. Longma is one of Ming Yang Smart Energy's key suppliers, providing a significant share of the heavy castings used in the workshop, including hubs and bases.

"This batch is for a wind power project in Vietnam -- five complete turbine sets. We expect to finish them this month, and they will be shipped in early May," Ye said.

The base's complete-unit export business is steadily expanding.

"I studied business English and joined this team at the end of last year. This year, I've already received several groups of foreign clients, and we'll soon be welcoming customers from Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, and other countries," he added.

According to a 2025 report on the market share of the global wind turbine industry released by relevant institutions, Chinese manufacturers' installed capacity overseas in 2025 increased eightfold compared with 2024. Chinese manufacturers also retained the world's largest market share and, for the first time, occupied all of the top six positions globally.

The report makes clear that this achievement is not simply the result of a single technological breakthrough or the success of one company. Rather, it reflects the scale effect of China's entire wind power industrial and supply chains.

From raw materials to complete wind turbines, the benefits of Yangjiang cluster go beyond proximity and speed -- they also bring lower costs and greater stability.

According to local officials in Yangjiang, the city will continue supporting enterprises in expanding into international markets. It aims to lift the total import and export volume of green power equipment above 1 billion yuan this year, driving more of China's green energy momentum to reach the world.