GE’s Global Wind Footprint Expands To More Than 30,000 Turbines Worldwide

December 15, 20158 years ago Cynthia Shahan 2 Comments

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GE’s wind portfolio has expanded to 30,000+ turbines worldwide with the acquisition of Alstom. This concurrently expanded GE’s European presence by 50%. As it expanded one of the world’s largest renewable energy footprints, GE cited its goal is to drive the wind industry forward — by “joining the shared expertise of two innovative companies.”

The company also recently brought Haliade* technology into its offshore wind portfolio. The deal helps customers by extending GE’s wind services, increasing digital & analytics capabilities across the combined fleet.

GE introduced its new renewable energy business at the European Wind Energy Association’s 2015 Annual Event in Paris.

The GE newsroom adds some quotes. “Over the past few years, we have focused on making our wind business more global,” explained Anne McEntee, President & CEO of GE’s onshore wind unit. “The Alstom deal helps us gain local experience in key growth regions, and we will be extending our services capabilities to a broader group of customers across the newly combined fleet.”

Regarding the new Haliade turbine technology, according to the press release, “The Haliade technology will also be featured in the historic Block Island project, which is set to become the first offshore wind farm in the United States.” The project is expected to begin operating next year.

The offshore business has built an extensive backlog of orders with EDF in France. It will also be used in the Merkur offshore project in Germany.

“Offshore wind is a challenging industry, but we believe the market has real potential,” said Anders Soe-Jensen, President & CEO of GE’s offshore wind unit. “Our goal is to work closely with customers to continue validating our technology as we begin to scale and grow the business.”

Service-related benefits will also result from the huge acquisition. GE Renewable Energy plans to emphasize cutting-edge digital and analytics capabilities, improving productivity and increasing power output. Earlier this year, GE launched its Digital Wind Farm, which aims to create a digital infrastructure for the wind industry. The Digital Wind Farm harnesses the analytics power of the GE Store powered by Predix, the secure software platform for the Industrial Internet.

In earlier news, GE is at work on harnessing even more wind energy from the blades of wind turbines — power lost at the center of the wind turbine where the blades attach. For more about this, see: “Ugly Duckling Wind Turbine From GE Could Produce Some Beautiful Numbers.”

Also learn more about GE’s big wind launch into the Industrial Internet here:

GE Boosting Wind Turbine Output Up To 5% With PowerUp, Industrial Internet Technology

GE Brilliant Wind Turbines + PowerUp = Big Clean Energy Win (CleanTechnica Exclusive)

Photo courtesy of GE.

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