The 5 Biggest Renewable Energy Companies In The World

The Renewable Energy sector has grown consistently over the past few years and decades. According to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), in 2010, global renewable energy capacity was at 1,22 TW. Ten years later, it had reached 2,8 TW.

It’s becoming clear that clean energy is the pathway to a sustainable future , meaning companies are increasingly turning their attention towards it, including Oil and Gas majors such as TotalEnergies, Shell, and ExxonMobil. But who are the biggest renewable energy companies in the world? Here are the top 5.

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Ørsted – $77.7 Billion

Ørsted is a Danish multinational that has been working within the Renewable Energy industry for over three decades. It currently represents a 25% market share of the global offshore wind sector. It’s also the largest energy company in Denmark. In 2021, they reached an astonishing total revenue of nearly $77,7 Billion.

The company develops, constructs, and operates onshore and offshore wind farms, solar farms, and energy storage facilities, as well as bioenergy plants. It also provides energy products and services to its customers.

Since the company (then known as DONG Energy) initiated its transition from black to green energy about 10 years ago, it has reduced its coal consumption by 91% and is set to phase it out completely by 2023. They also finalised the divestment of their upstream oil and gas business in 2017, thus becoming fully dedicated to clean energy.

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Currently, Ørsted produces 90% of its energy from renewable sources, and it has pledged to increase this to over 95% by 2023, and 99% by 2025. They have also set the target for their energy generation to be carbon neutral by 2025 and to have no emissions by 2040.

As stated by the company,

‘We’ve become a global leader in offshore wind and have installed enough capacity to power more than 19 million people. Our ambition is to raise this number to 30 million by 2025. By 2030, our ambition is to have installed approx. 50 GW of renewable energy capacity.’ ​

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Iberdrola – $33.1 Billion

Iberdrola is a Spanish multinational energy company and one of the biggest producers of wind power in the world. Its annual revenue for 2020 was $33.1 Billion, making it the second-largest renewable energy company in the world.

The company specialises in the generation, distribution, trading, and marketing of electricity.

Iberdrola has been committed to advancing renewable energy for more than 20 years and they have pledged to double their renewables capacity by 2025 to 60 GW, and 95 GW by 2030.

As of 2020, the company employed more than 37,000 people worldwide!

Some of their flagship projects include the:

• East Anglia Hub Offshore Wind Complex
• Kitty Hawk Offshore Wind Farm
• Park City Wind Offshore Wind Farm
• Vineyard Wind 1 Offshore Wind Farm
• Saint-Brieuc Offshore Wind Farm
• Baltic Eagle Offshore Wind Farm

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NextEra Energy – $17.1 Billion

NextEra Energy is an American energy company. As of the end of 2020, they had about 54.7GW of installed generation capacity, of which half comes from green energy resources. In 2021, they generated approximately $17.1 billion.

NextEra is also one of the biggest capital investors in infrastructure in America, with between $50 and $55 billion of investment in new infrastructure planned throughout 2022.

Its subsidiary NextEra Energy Resources specialises in green energy and has around 24.6 GW of net generating capacity spread out primarily in the US and Canada. This comes primarily from wind (67%), then solar (14%), nuclear (9%), and other sources (10%).

NextEra Energy Resources has invested more than $20 billion in clean energy over its lifetime. It also has over 150 wind and solar facilities operating in 26 US states and 4 Canadian provinces.

The company is also investing a lot of time into energy storage technologies. As of the end of 2019, they had more than 150 MW of battery energy storage systems in operation. ​

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Vestas – $15.6 Billion

Vestas, founded in 1945, is a Danish world leader in the wind energy sector. They currently have 29,000 employees designing, manufacturing, installing, developing, and servicing wind energy and hybrid projects worldwide. In 2021, the company generated annual revenue of $15.6 billion.

Vestas have more than 145 GW of wind turbines installed across 85 countries, and they’ve managed to prevent the emission of 1.7 million tonnes of CO2 in the last 40 years. Vestas was also the first company in the world to reach 100 GW for the installation and service of wind turbines.

In January 2022, the company was named the most sustainable company in the world by Corporate Knights in their 18th annual Global 100 ranking.

The turbines that the company produced in 2021 will avoid the emission of 532 million tonnes of CO2 over their lifetime. That’s the equivalent of a 2.64 million square kilometre forest sequestering carbon for a year, a forest over 5 times the size of Spain.

Currently, the largest turbine in their portfolio is the V236-15.0 MW. It’s capable of producing up to 80 GWh every year. This is enough to power around 20,000 European homes and displaces more than 38,000 tonnes of CO2 – equivalent to removing 25,000 passenger vehicles off the road every year.

As part of their CETEC project, Vestas is planning to create the world’s first circular turbine blade.

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Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy – $10.2 Billion

Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy is a Spanish-German wind energy company. They manufacture wind turbines and provide both offshore and onshore wind services. The company is the second-largest wind turbine manufacturer in the world and generated a revenue of $10.2 billion in 2021.

The company was founded in April 2017 when Gamesa and Siemens Wind Power merged. It functions around three business units: Onshore, Offshore, and Services.

They currently have more than 120 GW of installed wind capacity worldwide, enough to power more than 87 million households every year. The onshore business represents 101.5 GW of installed capacity since 1979, the offshore unit accounts for 19.2 GW of capacity since 1991, and the services section maintains 82 GW of turbines.

The company employs 26,000 people and installed more than 10 GW of new capacity in 2021. It also has an impressive pipeline, with a $37.2 billion order book.

The company is particularly known for its SG 14-236 DD offshore wind turbine, which is its biggest turbine to date, with a nameplate capacity of up to 14 MW, and 15 MW with the Power Boost function.

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NES Fircroft and supporting the Renewable Energy industry

NES Fircroft has been supporting the Renewable Energies sector for over 20 years. We work in partnership with our clients offering a wealth of knowledge, a global network of talent and local market expertise that can deliver complete renewable energy workforce solutions.

Our dedicated Renewable Energy Recruitment teams have an in-depth understanding of the challenges facing the industry and can mine our extensive global database to build you the talent pool you need for the future.

We work on some of the most exciting Renewable Energy projects globally, meaning we have plenty of renewables job opportunities for engineers looking to enhance their energy careers.