GE Energy Wind Turbines Enter Service At Alsleben Project In Germany
COLOGNE, GERMANY - May 30, 2006 - Thirty-six GE Energy wind turbines have been commissioned and have entered service at the Alsleben Wind Project, one of the largest in Germany.
Located 70 kilometers northwest of Leipzig, in the Alsleben-Schackstedt region of Germany, the project is adding 54 megawatts of wind-generated electricity to the country's electricity grid, or enough power to meet the requirements of approximately 30,000 German households.
Developed by EAB Technology Group of Freiberg, Germany, the Alsleben project was acquired by GE Energy Financial Services (EFS) in 2005, marking the sixth of seven wind park purchases by the group in Germany that year. Construction of the project was handled by EAB Projektbau GmbH and completed by the end of March 2006.
Heliotech Betriebssysteme GmbH of Freiberg, a subsidiary of EAB, is supporting GE EFS with selected technical and commercial services. In addition to the supply and installation of the 1.5-megawatt wind turbines, GE Energy's wind business is providing long-term maintenance services.
"The successful startup of the Alsleben project is a significant milestone for GE Energy in the German wind industry," said Victor Abate, vice president of renewable energy for GE Energy. "The project reinforces our company's continuing interest in wind power as a key component in helping to develop the balanced energy portfolio that the world will need to meet its future clean energy needs."
GE's wind power technology is part of ecomagination, a corporate-wide commitment to address pressing environmental challenges such as the need for cleaner, more efficient sources of energy, reduced emissions and abundant sources of clean water.
GE Energy's 1.5-megawatt wind turbines are among the most widely used megawatt-class wind turbines in the global energy industry, with more than 4,100 of these machines installed worldwide totaling more than 6,150 megawatts of capacity.
GE Energy's wind business has a strong presence in Germany, with European headquarters in Salzbergen where the company maintains a wind turbine manufacturing plant. In addition, GE's wind operations in Germany and across Europe are supported by the GE Global Research Center-Europe in Munich. One of the central missions of this center is to further increase the reliability and performance of wind turbines.
The EAB Technology Group's activities include site development, turnkey construction of wind power plants, substations, large PV-solar plants and biomass plants, as well as the operation and administration of wind farms and collation of wind factor data, analysis and evaluation. In cooperation with local partners, the group has constructed more than 180 wind power plants in Germany. For more information, please visit eab-group.de.
About GE Energy Financial Services
GE Energy Financial Services, based in Stamford, Conn. with European operations based in London, invests in excess of Euros3 billion equivalent a year in the world's most capital-intensive industry, energy, working with project developers, intermediaries, financial sponsors and a broad field of equipment manufacturers. With more than Euros9 billion equivalent in assets globally, GE Energy Financial Services offers structured equity, leveraged leasing, partnerships, project finance and broad-based commercial finance to the global energy industry from wellhead to wall socket. For more information, visit www.geenergyfinancialservices.com.
About GE Energy
GE Energy (www.ge.com/energy) is one of the world's leading suppliers of power generation and energy delivery technologies, with 2005 revenue of $16.5 billion. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, GE Energy works 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. Numerous GE Energy products are certified under ecomagination, GE's corporate-wide initiative to aggressively bring to market new technologies that will help customers meet pressing environmental challenges.
With wind turbine design, manufacturing and assembly facilities in Germany, Spain and the United States, GE Energy is among the leading providers of wind energy products and support services ranging from commercial wind turbines and grid integration products to project development assistance and operation and maintenance. The company's knowledge base includes the development and/or installation of more
than 8,500 wind turbines with a total rated output of 7,600 megawatts.
For more information, contact:
Dennis Murphy
GE Energy
+1 678 844 6948
dennis.murphy@ge.com
Ken Darling or Howard Masto
Masto Public Relations
+1 518 786 6488
kenneth.darling@ge.com
howard.masto@ge.com
