News
When it comes to wind, GE means business
Wind power is just one aspect of Atlanta-based GE Energy, which sells products and know-how to all areas of the energy industry. Those areas range from coal, oil, natural gas and nuclear power to emerging energy industries like solar power. In 2005, GE Energy generated $16.5 billion in revenue for its parent company.
With respect to wind, the company has wind turbine manufacturing plants in Germany, Spain, China, Canada and the United States. It boasts a "knowledge base" earned by the installation of more than 8,500 wind turbines worldwide with a total output of 7,600 megawatts.
August 23, 2006
by Craig Salters
in Harwich Oracle
An economic superpower, the United States has thousands of large, powerful companies. Only a handful, however, can claim iconic status, having grown in size and influence to where their names are synonymous with American industry.
General Electric, or GE, is clearly one of the "big boys," taking its place among other business giants like General Motors, US Steel or IBM.
So, in 2002, when GE made its decision to enter the burgeoning wind power industry, it did so as it does most things: in a big, big way.
"It's obvious that renewable energy will be an integral part of the world energy mix through the 21st century," said Robert Gleitz, general manager of GE Energy's wind business.
Wind power is just one aspect of Atlanta-based GE Energy, which sells products and know-how to all areas of the energy industry. Those areas range from coal, oil, natural gas and nuclear power to emerging energy industries like solar power. In 2005, GE Energy generated $16.5 billion in revenue for its parent company.
With respect to wind, the company has wind turbine manufacturing plants in Germany, Spain, China, Canada and the United States. It boasts a "knowledge base" earned by the installation of more than 8,500 wind turbines worldwide with a total output of 7,600 megawatts.
In Europe, seven of GE's 3.6 megawatt turbines produce offshore wind power, operating at the Arklow Bank Wind Park in the Irish Sea. In the United States, the company will provide 80 1.5 megawatt turbines to Los Angeles for its Pine Tree Wind project, expected to go online by the end of 2007, and 14 more for the Pakini Nui Wind Project, expected to be up and running by March of 2007 in Hawaii.
This past June, in Pittsburgh, GE Energy introduced two products to make wind power more "grid friendly" at Windpower 2006, an annual conference sponsored by the American Wind Energy Association.
"We are seeing incredible growth in demand for wind turbines as more countries seek to expand their renewable energy production," said Gleitz, who assumed his duties in the spring of 2005. One reason for the growth, he said, is the desire to lessen greenhouse gas emissions. Still other reasons include the need for increased "energy security" and the extension of the federal wind energy production credit.
According to Gleitz, GE Energy entered the global wind business four years ago when it purchased assets from Enron Wind Corporation, a subsidiary of Enron and a manufacturer of wind turbine generators. Since then, Gleitz said, the company's wind revenues have increased by more than 400 percent, reaching $2 billion in 2005. That same year also saw GE Energy account for more than 60 percent of the 2,341 megawatts of new wind energy capacity installed in the United States.
Gleitz called renewable wind power "one of the fastest growing energy sectors" over the past several years.
Looking forward, Gleitz said that GE would continue developing "larger and more efficient" wind power technology to make wind power more "cost-competitive" with other energy sources. To do that, the company hopes to take advantage of what Gleitz called "synergies," or the fact that GE already competes in established industries which constantly seek better gearboxes, generators and the like. Advances in those fields, Gleitz said, could be incorporated into the company's wind turbines.
GE Energy's investment in wind power works well with the parent company's much-trumpeted corporate policy of "ecomagination," which seeks to "aggressively bring to market new technologies that will help customers meet pressing environmental needs."
While a major player in the growing wind energy industry, GE is by no means alone in the field. One of its biggest competitors is Vestas, a Danish company which has more than two decades of experience manufacturing wind turbines. According to its Web site, the company devoted itself exclusively to wind energy in 1987 and, as of December 2005, boasted a workforce of 10,600.
General Electric, or GE, is clearly one of the "big boys," taking its place among other business giants like General Motors, US Steel or IBM.
So, in 2002, when GE made its decision to enter the burgeoning wind power industry, it did so as it does most things: in a big, big way.
"It's obvious that renewable energy will be an integral part of the world energy mix through the 21st century," said Robert Gleitz, general manager of GE Energy's wind business.
Wind power is just one aspect of Atlanta-based GE Energy, which sells products and know-how to all areas of the energy industry. Those areas range from coal, oil, natural gas and nuclear power to emerging energy industries like solar power. In 2005, GE Energy generated $16.5 billion in revenue for its parent company.
With respect to wind, the company has wind turbine manufacturing plants in Germany, Spain, China, Canada and the United States. It boasts a "knowledge base" earned by the installation of more than 8,500 wind turbines worldwide with a total output of 7,600 megawatts.
In Europe, seven of GE's 3.6 megawatt turbines produce offshore wind power, operating at the Arklow Bank Wind Park in the Irish Sea. In the United States, the company will provide 80 1.5 megawatt turbines to Los Angeles for its Pine Tree Wind project, expected to go online by the end of 2007, and 14 more for the Pakini Nui Wind Project, expected to be up and running by March of 2007 in Hawaii.
This past June, in Pittsburgh, GE Energy introduced two products to make wind power more "grid friendly" at Windpower 2006, an annual conference sponsored by the American Wind Energy Association.
"We are seeing incredible growth in demand for wind turbines as more countries seek to expand their renewable energy production," said Gleitz, who assumed his duties in the spring of 2005. One reason for the growth, he said, is the desire to lessen greenhouse gas emissions. Still other reasons include the need for increased "energy security" and the extension of the federal wind energy production credit.
According to Gleitz, GE Energy entered the global wind business four years ago when it purchased assets from Enron Wind Corporation, a subsidiary of Enron and a manufacturer of wind turbine generators. Since then, Gleitz said, the company's wind revenues have increased by more than 400 percent, reaching $2 billion in 2005. That same year also saw GE Energy account for more than 60 percent of the 2,341 megawatts of new wind energy capacity installed in the United States.
Gleitz called renewable wind power "one of the fastest growing energy sectors" over the past several years.
Looking forward, Gleitz said that GE would continue developing "larger and more efficient" wind power technology to make wind power more "cost-competitive" with other energy sources. To do that, the company hopes to take advantage of what Gleitz called "synergies," or the fact that GE already competes in established industries which constantly seek better gearboxes, generators and the like. Advances in those fields, Gleitz said, could be incorporated into the company's wind turbines.
GE Energy's investment in wind power works well with the parent company's much-trumpeted corporate policy of "ecomagination," which seeks to "aggressively bring to market new technologies that will help customers meet pressing environmental needs."
While a major player in the growing wind energy industry, GE is by no means alone in the field. One of its biggest competitors is Vestas, a Danish company which has more than two decades of experience manufacturing wind turbines. According to its Web site, the company devoted itself exclusively to wind energy in 1987 and, as of December 2005, boasted a workforce of 10,600.
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