Following judging from industry associations, figures within the industry and Windpower Monthly readers, Enercon's managing director Nicole Fritsch-Nehring was voted to the number one spot.
Fritsch-Nehring, who runs the company alongside founder Alloys Wobben and Hans-Dieter Kettwig, arguably represents a new generation entering the upper tier of the industry.
Additionally, thanks to the departure of Vestas CEO Ditlev Engel, last year's number one, and GE's vice president for renewable Vic Abate, the top three places are occupied by newcomers. In second place there is Vestas new CEO Anders Runevad and in third GE's Anne McEntee.
The choice of an Enercon executive over those at two of the largest wind turbine manufacturers in the world may well be a controversial one. However, thanks to its decision to avoid the US and China, and a position of near-monopoly in Germany, Enercon is one of the few manufacturers to have ridden through the last two years in good financial health.
And it still produces the largest wind turbine in the world.
In the case of Runevad, although Vestas remains a major power it is difficult to gauge the position of a CEO who has only been in the role a matter of weeks. Despite his ignominious departure, Engel was, and remains to some degree, a major figure in Vestas' present and past.
While GE had a good year in 2012, this was largely as beneficiary of an end-of-year rush to qualify for the PTC. This year it faces an altogether different challenge.
Elsewhere in the list, the changes over the last year has led to a vacuum within the list with Suzlon CEO Tulsi Tanti, Gamesa's CEO Ignacio Martin and Nordex's Jurgen Zeschky all moving up the rankings.
