GE Drivetrain Technologies, a unit of General Electric Company (NYSE: GE), and A-Power Energy Generation Systems (Nasdaq: APWR) have signed two Letters of Intent (LOI), one for GE Drivetrain Technologies to supply A-Power with 2.7-megawatt (MW) wind turbine gearboxes and a second to establish a joint venture partnership for a wind turbine gearbox assembly plant.
Under the supply agreement, GE Drivetrain Technologies will supply A-Power with more than 900 2.7-MW gearboxes beginning in 2010.
The companies’ joint venture agreement creates a wind turbine gearbox
assembly business that will be majority owned by GE Drivetrain
Technologies and operate under the name GE Transportation. The new
assembly plant will bring multi-megawatt gearbox capacity to China and
serve as GE Drivetrain Technologies’ Southeast Asia manufacturing
center from which it will serve its customers in the region beginning
in mid-2010.
"We’re excited about the opportunity to serve A-Power" said Prescott Logan, Business Leader GE Drivetrain Technologies. "The speed and focus that A-Power has brought to building its wind turbine business, combined with the highly reliable design of its Fuhrlander 2.7 MW turbine, position A-Power well for long-term success in China and the broader global market."
China announced in August 2008 that it would subsidize wind turbine production in an effort to reah a target of increasing wind energy output from one gigawatt in 2005 to 30 gigawatts by 2020.
A-Power Energy Generation Systems, Ltd., through its PRC operating subsidiary, Liaoning GaoKe Energy Group Co., Ltd., is the largest provider of distributed power generation systems in China and entered into China’s wind energy market in 2008 with the construction of its first wind turbine plant.
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