GE Energy supplies wind turbines to Shanghai, China

GE Energy is supplying 14 of its 1.5 MW wind turbines for the first two utility-scale wind projects to be built in Shanghai, China's largest city. With a total combined capacity of 21 MW, the Chongming Wind Facility is located on the eastern end of Chongming Island, and the Nanhui Wind Facility is situated in the southeastern region of the city in the Nanhui district. Both facilities are being constructed by Shanghai Wind Power Company (SWPC), which is owned by Shanghai Power Industrial & Commercial Co. The projects are expected to be finished by the first quarter of 2005. The projects' owner, Shanghai Power Industrial & Commercial, is a subsidiary of Shanghai Municipal Electric Power Company (SMEPC). The co-developers of the wind facilities are SMEPC and China Longyuan Electric Power Group Corp. (CLYPG), China's largest wind power company. CLYPG is the subsidiary of China Guodian Group, one of China's five state-owned power generation companies.

The projects support China's national initiative that targets the creation of 20 gigawatts (GW) of new renewable energy by 2020, as well as Shanghai Municipal Government's goals to promote the addition of new renewable energy in the region. "With the Chinese government's growing support for cleaner, renewable energy solutions, we're truly seeing an increase in wind energy demand in China," said Steve Fludder, president of GE Energy-China. "We are pleased that our technology has been selected for the Shanghai Chongming and Nanhui projects. We're committed to these efforts and look forward to supporting our customers' long-term wind energy needs." The Shanghai wind facilities represent the first in China to be financed by the World Bank, which provided $13 million in assistance, service and technical training. In addition to the supply of wind turbines, GE Energy will provide technical advisory services for installation supervision as well as a three-year operation and maintenance package. The new wind facilities are also the first in China to utilize GE's Bently Nevada condition-monitoring system.

The new Shanghai wind projects mark GE Energy's second wind announcement in China in the past year. In October 2003, GE Energy announced it was installing 10 of its 1.5-megawatt wind turbines for the Huitengxile Wind Power Plant in Inner Mongolia, China. GE Energy's 1.5 megawatt turbines, the largest capacity units installed in China, are among the most widely sold and tested turbines in their size category, with more than 2,500 units installed worldwide.