Germany – GE Energy to start up new 2.3 MW wind turbines

A new wind project in Okel, Lower Saxony, Germany features five 2.3 MW wind turbines from GE Energy. Located 20 kilometers southeast of Bremen, the Windpark Okeler Bruch offers a total capacity of 11.5 MW. The project is expected to generate enough power on an annual basis to meet the electricity requirements of approximately 7,200 average German households. The project is owned by WindStrom Nord GmbH & Co. Okeler Bruch KG and was developed by WindStrom Innovative Energiesysteme GmbH, one of the leading developers of wind projects in Germany. The power is being purchased by Avacon AG, the municipal utility of Hannover, state capital of Lower Saxony. Avacon is a 100 percent subsidiary of E.ON, an integrated power and gas company and the world's largest private sector energy services company.

"We are pleased to be working for the third time in this region with WindStrom," said Robert Gleitz, general manager for GE Energy's wind energy segment. Groundbreaking for Windpark Okeler Bruch was held in September, and the installation of the five wind turbines was completed in December. The turbines were assembled at GE Energy's facilities in Salzbergen. GE Energy's 2.3-MW wind turbines are part of the company's family of 2.x-class wind turbines, designed for applications covering a broad range of wind conditions. To meet the height restrictions of the Okeler Bruch site, GE utilized its new modular tower system to provide wind turbines with customized 93-meter hub heights. Recently developed, GE's modular tower system offers a new level of hub height flexibility to better meet project-specific requirements. Germany continues to lead the world in installed wind power capacity with 17,132 cumulative MW in place as of the end of June 2005, according to the German wind energy institute DEWI. Forecasts indicate an anticipated 28,871 MW will be installed in the country by the end of 2012.