Sweden - GE’s 2.5-MW wind turbines to be used at 4 wind energy plants

Stena Renewable Wind Energy Company of Göteborg, Sweden has signed a contract with GE (NYSE:GE) to deploy 40 of GE’s 2.5-100 wind turbines for installation at four new wind farms in the southern Swedish municipalities of Laholm, Boxholm and Mjölby.

Commissioning of the new wind farms is scheduled between late 2011 and mid-2012. “After a careful analysis, we selected GE because we place the highest priority on a long-term, stable relationship with the supplier along with the performance data and the proposed costs of the wind turbine technology. We look forward to working with GE and the joint implementation of these projects," said Göran Danielsson, managing director of Stena Renewable AB.

Stena currently operates a total of 22 wind turbines in the municipalities of Ludvika and Härnösand in central Sweden. The company’s four new wind farm projects represent a total investment of 1.2 billion Swedish crowns (about € 130 million). The projects will generate enough clean energy to power the equivalent of 50,000 houses in Sweden.

Traditionally a majority of Sweden’s domestically produced electricity has come from nuclear power plants and hydroelectric facilities. However, to comply with the EU Renewables Directive, Sweden has been working to increase the pace of wind farm construction, according to the Swedish Wind Energy Association.

The four new wind farms will be supported through Sweden’s existing green certificate support system that gives producers of renewable electricity (wind, small hydro, biomass based CHP) set payments for every MWh of renewable energy they produce.

"The performance of our 2.5MW series of wind turbines has been proven in applications across Europe,” said Stephan Ritter, GE’s General Manager for Renewable Energy in Europe. “Designed to yield the highest annual energy product in its class, the 2.5 wind turbine is an excellent match for the requirements of Stena’s new wind projects.”

The new projects in Sweden are part of GE’s broader strategy to supply its advanced wind turbine technology and services for a growing number of wind energy projects as countries throughout central and eastern Europe strive to meet their renewable energy production and emissions-reduction targets.

More than 400 of GE’s 2.5 series onshore wind turbines have been installed, primarily at projects in European countries including Romania, France, Holland, Turkey, Germany, Belgium, Spain, Italy and Poland. This machine is designed as an evolutionary product and built upon the success of GE’s 1.5-megawatt wind turbine, the world’s most widely deployed megawatt-class wind turbine with over 16,000 units installed.