GE wins world’s largest wind farm contract

GE has been awarded a US$ 1.4 billion contract by Caithness Energy to supply wind turbines and support services over ten years for an 845 MW wind farm in Oregon, US.

Covering 77.7 km², the Shepherds Flat wind farm project, near the town of Arlington will be the world's largest such farm and feature 338 turbines that will be installed in 2011 and 2012. Turbine installation will follow the construction during 2010 of 137 km of roads and 145 km of power lines necessary to connect the turbines to the grid.

Partner at Caithness Energy, Les Gelber said, "GE wind turbines have a strong track record of performance that has been proven in nearly every form of climate worldwide. Their ability to continually advance wind turbine technology will help us to provide our customers, Southern California Edison, with the reliability they expect."

The farm will be the first in the US to use GE's 2.5xl wind turbines, which have already been proven in Europe and Asia.

"The 2.5 MW turbine is the latest evolution of our turbine technology and provides customers with greater efficiency, reliability and grid connection capabilities," said Steve Bolze, president and CEO of GE Power and Water.

"The 2.5 MW builds upon the success of GE's 1.5 MW unit, the world's most widely deployed wind turbine with more than 12000 already installed," he said.

The Shepherds Flat wind farm will provide enough clean energy to power approximately 235000 Californian households according to US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) methodology. The farm will also reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 1.3 million tonnes when compared to equivalent fossil fuel generation.

"This project highlights our ability to deliver integrated solutions in clean energy and it supports our overreaching focus to provide first class technology to our customers," said Mr Bolze.