Units Will Supply Electricity for More than 70,000 German Households
High-Tech Trailing Edge Serrations Help Reduce Noise Levels
GE Expands Wind Power Business in Germany
GE (NYSE: GE) announced a wind farm contract with the leading German project developer Energiekontor AG for four wind power generating projects comprised of 41 2.75-103 wind turbines. Using a proprietary 50.2-meter blade with a proven aerodynamic shape, GE’s 2.75-103 wind turbine provides a larger blade swept area giving wind developers greater energy capture and improved project economics.
“As these new projects illustrate, GE continues to invest in the future of the wind industry in Germany and across Europe”
The new units will boost GE’s contribution to clean and efficient energy production by generating some 250 million kWh of electricity a year—enough to supply more than 70,000 German households.
GE expects to commission seven turbines in 2013 in North Rhine-Wesphalia and 34 turbines in 2013 in the Cuxhaven area. All 41 wind turbines will be manufactured in Salzbergen in Lower Saxony. The turbines will feature a 98.3-meter-high tower and a rotor diameter of 103 meters to capture more energy.
“GE is meeting the project’s strict noise control regulation requirements by using optimized trailing-edge serrations on its 2.75-103 range wind turbines. The technical design of these high-performance wind generators with their low noise emission levels is one of the main reasons we have chosen GE as our project partner,” said Peter Szabo, Energiekontor’s managing director.
Energiekontor also signed a wind service agreement with GE including an extended spare parts and servicing contract for maintenance, routine inspections and remote monitoring, along with manual resets to be undertaken by on-site service technicians and technical measures for troubleshooting and fault rectification.
“As these new projects illustrate, GE continues to invest in the future of the wind industry in Germany and across Europe,” said Stephan Ritter, general manager of GE Renewable Energy Europe. “We are able to use GE’s vast resources across several business and technology sectors, including nearly 13,000 engineers throughout GE Energy and the GE Research Center in Munich. In today’s environment, having such global scale provides us with a significant competitive advantage and further enhances our capabilities to meet the diverse requirements of our customers in Europe and worldwide.”
The new 2.75-103 wind turbine generator features an improved electrical system and has been fitted with 50.2-meter rotor blades that incorporate GE’s own design. Compared to the 2.5-100 model, the blades used on the new unit are capable of increasing the annual energy output by more than 9 percent at a wind speed of 7.5 m/s.
Energiekontor AG is a leading German project developer in the wind power sector. The company has already invested more than €760 million in planned and operational wind farm projects and its 6,000 investors have provided equity capital amounting to more than €230 million (reporting date 31.12.2011). Energiekontor operates 79 wind parks comprising more than 445 wind turbines with a total generating output of over 515 MW (including planning for third-party operators). Founded in Bremerhaven in 1990, Energiekontor now has operations all over Europe and in addition to its head office in Bremen the company has branches in Bremerhaven, Bernau near Berlin and Aachen along with subsidiaries in the UK (Leeds) and Portugal (Lisbon).
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