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GEa?s Advanced 2.5a"Megawatt Wind Turbine to Power Germania Wind Project Expansion

^{Published on 2010-09-21 09:20:25 - Market Wire}
 

SALZBERGEN, Germany--([ BUSINESS WIRE ])--GE (NYSE: GE) announced today that Germania Windpark GmbH & Co. KG, one of Germanya™s leading wind power developers, has selected GEa™s advanced wind turbine technology for the expansion of a wind farm near Magdeburg in central Germany.

"The Gro-Santersleben Sd wind park expansion builds on a long-term relationship that we have with GEa™s wind business"

GE is supplying three 2.5-megawatt wind turbines for the expansion of the wind farm Gro-Santersleben Sd, where eight GE 1.5-megawatt wind turbines are already operating. The expansion will add 7.5 megawatts of clean, wind-generated electricity.

aThe Gro-Santersleben Sd wind park expansion builds on a long-term relationship that we have with GEa™s wind business,a said Markus Tacke, managing director of Germania Windpark. aMany of our previous projects with GE have featured 1.5-megawatt wind turbines, so this expansion will be the first project to implement GEa™s advanced 2.5-megawatt machines.a

GE and Germania Windpark also have signed a full service agreement (FSA) covering the new wind turbines. GEa™s FSAs are designed to provide wind turbine owners with total support for all of their planned and unplanned maintenance and operational needs. The new service agreement has just been introduced this year by GE.

aGE's full service agreement was an important requirement for our decision and we appreciate GE's flexibility on this contracta, said Willi Raue, managing director of Winvest Finanzierungsservice.

The 2.5-megawatt series platform represents GEa™s most advanced wind turbine technology in terms of efficiency, reliability and grid connection capabilities. The 2.5-megawatt platform is designed to yield the highest annual energy production in its class and builds on the success of GEa™s 1.5-megawatt wind turbine, the worlda™s most widely deployed wind turbine with 14.000 units now installed.

aCustomers in 19 different European countries have chosen GEa™s 2.5-megawatt series technology and Germania has now joined that group,a said Stephan Ritter, general managera"wind, Europe for GE Power & Water. aGE is the industry leader in terms of wind turbine installations that use rotors that are 100 meters and longer. Germaniaa™s project will benefit from our experience, and we are pleased to be partnering with them.a

GEa™s wind business operates a wind turbine manufacturing facility in Salzbergen. In addition, GEa™s wind operations in Germany and across Europe are supported by the GE Global Research Center in Munich, where GE researchers and engineers are focused on increasing the reliability and performance of wind turbines.

About Germania Windpark GmbH & Co. KG and Winvest Finanzierungsservice GmbH & Co.

Germania was founded in 1993 as one of the first companies dealing in the professional development of turnkey wind parks in Germany. Winvest Finanzierungsservice GmbH & Co. followed in 1995 and is responsible for financing and marketing of all developed projects.

Between the establishment of the company and the present day, 51 projects with 243 wind turbines and a rated output of around 267 megawatts have been planned. The majority of these projects have been established and commissioned as turnkey solutions, with two projects (66.7 MW) currently in construction and due for commissioning shortly.

About GE

GE (NYSE: GE) is a diversified infrastructure, finance and media company taking on the worlda™s toughest challenges. From aircraft engines and power generation to financial services, health care solutions and television programming, GE operates in more than 100 countries and employs about 300,000 people worldwide. For more information, visit the company's website at [ www.ge.com ].

GE serves the energy sector by developing and deploying technology that helps make efficient use of natural resources. With nearly 85,000 global employees and 2009 revenues of $37 billion, GE Energy [ www.ge.com/energy ] is one of the worlda™s leading suppliers of power generation and energy delivery technologies. The businesses that comprise GE Energya"GE Power & Water, GE Energy Services and GE Oil & Gasa"work together to provide integrated product and service solutions in all areas of the energy industry including coal, oil, natural gas and nuclear energy; renewable resources such as water, wind, solar and biogas; and other alternative fuels.