GE Energy (NYSE: GE) has signed a global agreement with the renewables division of EDP – Energias de Portugal, SA, the world’s fourth largest wind project developer.
GE will supply over 500 megawatts (MW) of wind turbines for EDP’s 2008 and 2009 projects in Europe and the U.S. The agreement is valued at $730 million, bringing GE Energy’s recent wind turbine order announcements to more than $1 billion. GE will:
— Supply Neo Energia, the European renewable branch of EDP, with 80 2.5xl wind turbines for new wind projects in Europe
— Provide Horizon Wind Energy LLC, EDP’s American branch, with 201 1.5MW wind turbines for projects in the U.S., at sites yet to be determined. EDP, Portugal’s largest power group, purchased Houston-based Horizon earlier this month, as part of an expansion into the North American wind energy industry.
“In the U.S. and around the world, we continue to see strong interest in the production of cleaner, wind-generated electricity,” said Victor Abate, Vice President-Renewables for GE Energy. “In the U.S. alone, more than 2,400 megawatts of new wind power was installed in 2006 while worldwide, more than 15,000 megawatts were installed, according to the Global Wind Energy Council.”
Says Antonio Mexia, CEO of EDP, “This frame agreement with GE nearly completes EDP’s wind turbine needs until 2009, which is particularly important for the success of our upcoming projects, given the high demand for wind turbines in today’s market.”
The European phase of the frame agreement represents GE’s largest supply of 2.5xl wind turbines to date. Introduced last year, the 2.5xl is the largest GE wind turbine for onshore applications and is designed to meet the immediate requirements of the European Union, where the lack of available land constrains the size of projects.
66 of the 2.5xl units will be provided for new wind farms in Spain. These projects are owned by the wind farm developer Neo Energia, EDP’s platform for Europe, which accounts for about 14% of the Iberian wind market.
The wind industry is well established in Iberia. According to the European Wind Energy Association, Spain had 11,615 megawatts of installed wind capacity at the beginning of 2007, ranking third in the world behind Germany and the United States, while Portugal had 1,716 megawatts.
Fourteen of the GE 2.5xl machines will be supplied for a new wind farm located in Belgium, also belonging to an affiliate of Neo Energia.
About EDP
EDP is a vertically integrated utility active in the electricity and gas industries across the entire value chain – generation, distribution and supply – in Portugal, Spain, and Brazil with a current market cap of about $20 billion. In the renewables business, EDP owns over 1,700MW of operating energy capacity in Iberia and France, with 3,000MW expected to be installed or in construction by the end of 2008.
About GE Energy
With wind turbine design, manufacturing and assembly facilities in Germany, Spain, China, Canada and the U.S., GE Energy is among the leading providers of wind energy products and support services ranging from commercial wind turbines and grid integration products to project development assistance and operation and maintenance. The company’s knowledge base includes the development and/or installation of more than 7,500 wind turbines with a total rated output of more than 9,800MW.
Loading...