GE Acquisition Further Highlights Wind Power (GE)

General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) is already a large wind power and alternative energy player.  The company’s GE Wind site notes that it already has more than 10,000 worldwide wind turbine installations comprising more than 15,000 MW of capacity.  That is going to get bigger now since the company completed the acquisition of ScanWind.  ScanWind is a developer of advanced drive train and control wind turbine technologies that are mainly aimed at offshore deployment rather than land-based wind power systems.

ScanWind was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Trondheim, Norway, and has a design-engineering center in Karlstad, Sweden.  The company has advanced drive train wind turbine technology that eliminates the need for gearboxes. While the company only has 41 employees, it designed and developed the 11 turbines operating on the Norwegian coast which are currently demonstrating the reliability and performance of this advanced technology.  This is not a purchase for operations by GE, but rather for the technology.

GE noted that the ScanWind turbine technology will join the conglomerate’s family of wind turbines that includes the GE 1.5-megawatt series.  It listed that as being the most widely deployed wind turbine in the world with more than 12,000 now in operation.

Offshore wind power usually requires more attention and maintenance than land-based wind applications, particularly when considering the economics of such projects compared to other forms of power generation.

GE added that for the European Union member states to reach their renewable energy targets by 2020, analysts predict major investments in European offshore wind projects… it noted a 20-fold global increase, from an installed base of 1.5 GW in 2008 to 30 GW by 2020.

GE noted here that its investment in clean energy and infrastructure is now above $6 billion annually in research and development, with roughly $1.4 billion focused on developing clean technology solutions.

We were hoping that this might have some excitement in other parts and component makers for various aspects of wind power and alternative energy, but that is mixed at best today as oil is down and the equity markets are down.

JON C. OGG
SEPTEMBER 14, 2009