General Electric announced yesterday that it has raised its 2010 renewable energy investing target by 50% to $6 billion–twice it’s current level of investment.
GE Energy Financial Services, a unit of GE (NYSE: GE), crossed the $3 billion mark recently, announcing equity investment in the 600-megawatt (MW) portfolio of wind farms in Oregon, Minnesota, Illinois and Texas owned by Houston-based Horizon Wind Energy LLC, a large US wind farm developer that is a subsidiary of Energias de Portugal SA (EDP).
The $6 billion goal is a major acceleration of a previously announced target of $4 billion.
"Thanks to our strong customer relationships, our expertise, GE’s technical capabilities, high fossil fuel prices and popular support for cleaner power, renewable energy has become our fastest-growing business," said Alex Urquhart, President and CEO of GE Energy Financial Services. "With our broad capabilities to invest equity and debt within and outside the United States–not only in wind but in solar, biomass, hydro and geothermal power–we have become a major player in a $60 billion annual renewable energy market."
GE Energy Financial Services closed more than $2 billion of renewable energy transactions last year, and by 2010 expects they will comprise 20-25% of its overall energy and water portfolio, up from about 10% in 2006. Wind energy is GE Energy Financial Services’ most active renewable energy investing area. With the Horizon transaction announced today, it has invested or committed to invest equity in 85 wind farms and increased the total capacity of its global wind equity holdings to more than 3,600 MW.
With $16 billion in assets, GE Energy Financial Services, based in Stamford, Connecticut, invests more than $5 billion annually in two of the world’s most capital-intensive industries, energy and water. In renewable energy, GE Energy Financial Services is growing its portfolio of more than $3 billion in assets in wind, solar, biomass, hydro and geothermal power.
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