GE settles patent lawsuit with major offshore wind turbine competitor

COEYMANS - General Electric Co. has settled its patent dispute with the European energy giant Siemens Gamesa over the design of Haliade-X, GE's offshore wind turbine.

 

The legal settlement, filed in U.S. District Court in Boston, clears up any questions about how GE would be able to make wind turbine components at the Port of Coeymans for a possible new wind farm off the shore of Long Island.

 

GE is planning to build some of the components for future Long Island wind farms at the Port of Coeymans that would employ nearly 900 people and become a major manufacturing site for GE's new energy spin-off, GE Vernova.

 

GE is also a supplier to two existing wind farms under development off the shore of Martha's Vineyard and Long Island.

 

A federal judge had previously banned GE from making its Haliade-X using the design that was the subject of the patent dispute through the life of the patent, which doesn't expire for another decade.

 

A GE spokesman declined to comment but later issued a press statement that said that the two sides had "reached an amicable settlement" under a deal that grants "cross licenses" for their offshore wind turbine designs. It is unclear how much the cross-licenses cost each company. The terms of the settlement were not disclosed.

 

The legal settlement had come after GE had previously lost a civil trial that Siemens Gamesa had brought against GE to stop it from making its Haliade-X, successfully arguing that GE Haliade-X design infringed on Siemens Gamesa's patents that protect its own designs for offshore wind turbines.

 

The civil jury found GE in violation of the Siemens Gamesa patent on its wind turbines and ordered GE to pay Siemens Gamesa a royalty fee of $30,000 for each megawatt of power that its Haliade-X turbines generated for the Martha's Vineyard and first Long Island wind farms. The largest Haliade-X turbine is rated for 14 megawatts.

 

The royalty fees only covered GE turbines supplied to those two wind farms, not future wind farms that GE supplies. The judge overseeing the case later issued the ruling blocking GE from making turbines using the design in question going forward on new projects. The judge, U.S. District Court Judge William Young, had urged the two sides to come to a settlement that would make his order and the jury's ruling moot. Young had also increased the per-megawatt fee to $60,000 per megawatt.

 

Meanwhile, GE's plans to build wind turbine components at the Port of Coeymans are still up in the air since the state has yet to award a contract for the new offshore wind farm planned for Long Island, one of many already under development in partnership with NYSERDA, the state's renewable energy agency.

 

GE is a partner with other developers seeking to win a NYSERDA contract. So is Siemens Gamesa, which is based in Germany and Spain. 

 

A Siemens Gamesa spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment, but Siemems Gamaesa also has its own plans to make offshore wind turbines at the Port of Coeymans if its proposal is picked by NYSERDA over the GE proposals, which were submitted with other developers.

 

“The announcement of this proposed facility in New York is a major step forward in our desire to lead the massive U.S. offshore wind market. We’re excited by the opportunity presented by the state of New York to further develop our manufacturing footprint," said Marc Becker, CEO of Siemens Gamesa’s offshore wind business.