News

Tuesday 25 May 2010

General Electric Wins Offshore Wind Turbine Order

General Electric Co., the world’s second-biggest maker of wind turbines, won its first order for a U.S. offshore project, to be built in Lake Erie near Cleveland.

GE will supply five direct-drive turbines that can generate as much as 4 megawatts each in a project with the Lake Erie Energy Development Corp. that they expect to complete in 2012, the company said today in a statement. GE will also provide maintenance services.

“Offshore wind has the potential to create thousands of new jobs in Ohio and become a major source of economic growth,” Victor Abate, who runs GE’s renewable energy businesses, said in the statement.

GE will work with Lake Erie Energy to identify additional locations for offshore wind projects, with the goal of developing 1,000 megawatts by 2020, he said.

Ohio Governor Ted Strickland said the project will help reduce the state’s reliance on generating electricity from coal. The state gets about 90 percent of its power from burning the fossil fuel, which contributes the largest single man-made source of greenhouse gases.

Governor Praises Move
“There are associated costs with coal that don’t make it into the cost of electricity,” Strickland said today in a media briefing at a wind energy conference in Dallas. “We want to use this project to find ways to produce wind power cheaper.”

GE bolstered its access to offshore-turbine technology last year with its purchase of the ScanWind unit of Morphic Technologies AB in Sweden for 130 million kronor ($18 million). ScanWind’s gearless conversion box is designed to cut maintenance costs, helping GE compete with offshore leader Siemens AG.

The U.K., the nation with the most offshore wind capacity, has about 8 gigawatts (8,000 megawatts) operating or planned and is targeting an additional 25 gigawatts, its government said in June. Growth will also be driven as designs improve for large offshore turbines, which are costlier and more difficult to repair than land-based versions, Abate said.

Fairfield, Connecticut-based GE slipped 23 cents, or 1.4 percent, to $16.19 a share as of 1:22 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares have gained 7.1 percent this year.

Read more at BusinessWeek.com

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