COPENHAGEN, March 9 (Reuters) - Siemens gained over Vestas to top the global wind turbine market as measured by market share of newly installed machines connected to the grid in 2014, according to an industry report, but the gap between the top three companies is small.

MAKE Consulting, a Danish renewable energy consultancy, said wind turbine units of Siemens and General Electric Co , and Danish turbine maker Vestas had between 10.8 and 10.1 percent each of global market share, showing the intense competition in the industry.

The consultancy said, however, GE's climb to second position from fifth the previous year was due to turbines that had already been installed in 2013 but were only turned on in 2014.

Siemens meanwhile is expanding rapidly in offshore wind, a new battleground for turbine makers as they produce larger engines to go further offshore to avoid local community complaints against their installation.

Siemens accounted for 76 percent of new capacity installed offshore last year in the world and 88 percent offshore Europe.

However, none of the top three feature as prominently in China, one of the biggest markets for wind where Chinese makers are dominant. Beijing-based Goldwind, United Power and Ming Yang were the top three turbine makers there respectively, MAKE said.

MAKE's report comes ahead of the world's largest offshore industry event hosted by Copenhagen this week and attended by executives of the sector's major players.

(Reporting by Sabina Zawadzki, editing by David Evans)