Most of Europe's offshore wind turbines come from just two companies: Vestas and Siemens Gamesa. Chinese supplier Ming Yang Smart Energy Group Ltd. is trying to change that.
The European offshore wind market has been difficult for Chinese manufacturers to enter because of exacting local rules and concerns about critical infrastructure. Ming Yang sees Denmark as a chance to break that pattern.
Horatio Evers, the CEO of Ming Yang Europe, said in an interview: "Absolutely we could supply the Danish market. We are definitely interested."
Ming Yang's pitch to Denmark is about money. Its technology can cut costs and improve the finances of offshore wind projects, and it sees security requirements as no barrier.
The projects in question are two large offshore wind farms planned by Vattenfall, a Swedish utility, in Danish waters. A Vattenfall spokesperson said turbine selection has not started.
Not everyone wants Ming Yang around.
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The energy minister also said any supplier must meet "strict standards on security and technology." That caution is spreading across Europe.
The worry comes from experience. European governments have watched Chinese companies push much of Europe's solar manufacturing aside, and they do not want the same thing to happen in wind.
The UK, Europe's biggest offshore wind market, effectively stopped Ming Yang from supplying turbines after a Scottish factory plan fell apart over security concerns. For Denmark, the stakes are personal.
The country's wind sector supports thousands of jobs, and politicians worry about damage to domestic manufacturers. Ming Yang has an answer for that: it promises to invest in European production capacity to help land contracts. The catch: it is unclear how much manufacturing and supply chain work would actually move to Europe, and whether moving it would erase the cost edge of building in China.
Offshore wind is expensive to build, and those costs show up in electricity prices. Chinese turbines could lower costs at a time when expensive equipment and high borrowing costs are squeezing offshore wind projects all over Europe.
If these two Danish projects get cheaper turbines, cheaper clean energy could follow. But there is a trade-off.
Relying on a Chinese supplier for critical energy infrastructure carries risk, and European governments are weighing that risk against the savings. Politics can turn a competitive bid into a security decision, and a supplier can meet every technical standard and still lose if the government decides the dependency is too big.
That is the same judgment call they faced with solar panels, and the wind business now sits in the middle of it. For your portfolio, the real question is not whether Ming Yang wins this particular bid.
It is how far European governments are willing to let Chinese suppliers into the market. If they stay closed, Vestas and Siemens Gamesa would keep their grip and costs would stay higher. If they open the door, a price war could reshape offshore wind.
Either way, Denmark's decision on these two projects is a window into where European energy is headed. The outcome could show up in your electricity bill and in the companies competing for your investment dollars.
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