GE Wins $1.4 Billion Order for Oregon Wind Farm
By Rachel Layne and Christopher MartinDec 2009
Dec. 10 (Bloomberg) -- General Electric Co.
won a $1.4 billion contract to supply turbines and services for an Oregon wind farm that
would be bigger than any completed so far and supply a tenth of Southern
California Edison’s renewable energy.
GE, whose equipment generates one-third of the world’s electricity, will
supply 338 of its 2.5-megawatt turbines to Caithness Energy LLC to be installed
in 2011 and 2012 and will hold a 10-year service contract, the companies said
in a statement. About 400 people will be needed during construction of the wind
farm and 35 to run the plant, GE said.
“We like wind,” Steve Bolze, who runs GE’s power and water division, told
Bloomberg Television today. “This is our largest contract we’ve signed this
year, the third largest in our history. We have been in the business since
2002. It is significant.”
The Shepherd’s Flat project, when finished, will supply energy to the U.S. west coast grid, including Southern
California Edison, Les Gelber a partner at New York-based Caithness,
said in the statement. The two-year construction project, to begin in 2010,
entails building about 85 miles of road and 90 miles of power lines that will
connect to the grid.
Shepherd’s Flat will provide enough energy to power 235,000 average California homes and
have the capacity to generate 2 billion kilowatt hours a year, the statement said.
GE Energy Financial Services will also invest an undisclosed amount in the
project.
Third-Quarter Installations
During the third quarter, customers of Fairfield, Connecticut-based GE
installed wind turbines capable of generating 692 megawatts, or 43 percent of
the 1,600 megawatts in wind-power generators added in the period, according to
the Washington-based American Wind Energy Association. The GE Energy division is based
in Atlanta.
Total U.S.
wind power capacity increased 5.4 percent in the third quarter to 31,040
megawatts as project financing resumed and utilities sought to increase
supplies of renewable energy to meet state mandates, the association said.
Southern California Edison is a unit of Rosemead, California-based Edison
International.