Sinovel, China's largest wind turbine maker, has replaced General Electric Co (GE) as the world's second largest such company after Danish manufacturer Vestas, according to the company's annual report released Wednesday in Beijing.

Sinovel, China's largest wind turbine manufacturer since 2008, occupied 11.1 percent of the global wind turbine market share at the end of 2010, up from 9.2 percent the previous year. The company held 23.2 percent of China's recently developed wind turbine market in 2010.

According to the annual report, Sinovel offered 4.386GW in newly installed capacity to the Chinese wind power market in 2010.

In 2010, Sinovel reported 20.325 billion yuan (3.1 billion U.S. dollars) in operating income, up 48.03 percent from 2009. Operating profit climbed to 3.133 billion yuan, up 49.09 percent. Net profit rose to 2.856 billion yuan net, up 50.87 percent.

Sinovel's product mix is comprised of 1.5MW and 3MW doubly-fed wind turbines. The company produced a 5MW prototype in October 2010. It expects to roll a 6MW prototype off the production line in June of this year.

In January this year, Sinovel floated stock in east China's Shanghai Stock Exchange (STE) at 90 yuan per share, a record high issue price in STE.

Sinovel said that in 2010 the company's sales of 1.5MW turbines, their most mainstream model, rose 42.42 percent over the previous year. Gross profit rate landed at 20.47 percent, down 0.30 percent from 2009.

The sales of 3MW turbines in 2010 increased 1777.39 percent over the previous year. Gross profit rate hit 24.01 percent, up 9.29 percent over 2009.

Tao Gang, Vice President of Sinovel, said the sound performance of the company in 2010 could mostly be attributed to lower procurement prices of components and parts as well as the large scale production of 3MW turbines.

Tao said that 1.5MW turbines have been produced in large quantity in China,highlighting fierce competition.Sinovel will give priority to producing 3MW and larger turbines in the future to maintain or enlarge its shares in the domestic market and to explore the world market.

By the end of 2010, Sinovel had 14,404.5MW orders on hand. These orders consisted of 3,619.5MW signed orders (3,229.5MW for 1.5MW turbines and 390MW for 3MW turbines) and 10,785MW orders that were won but not yet signed (4,182MW for 1.5MW turbines, 5,610MW for 3MW turbines, 945MW for 5MW turbines, and 48MW for 6MW turbines).

According to China Wind Energy Association (CWEA), in 2010, China had 18.9GW wind turbines installed, up 37.1 percent over 2009. The cumulative installed capacity totaled 44.7GW, up 73.3 percent.

The Chinese government is considering how to extend policy support to develop 3-5MW on-shore wind turbines and 5-10MW offshore wind turbines over the next five years.

According to the International Wind Energy Development-World Update 2010, released by Denmark-based BTM Consult on March 28, Vestas increased its world wind turbine market share from 12.5 percent in 2009 to 14.8 percent in 2010, while GE dropped from 12.7 percent in 2009 to 9.6 percent in 2010.