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GE Wind Turbines to Power Energia Verde Ventuno’s Cerna Wind Park in Romania
· Seven GE 2.5-103 Wind Turbines to Add 17.5 Megawatts of Cleaner Power
· Energia Verde Ventuno Owned Cerna Wind Park to Power 7,000 Romanian Households
· 10-Year Full Service Agreement with Production-Based Availability Guarantee
· Financing for the Project Arranged by Quercus Assets Selection
Energia Verde Ventuno has selected seven 2.5-103 GE (NYSE: GE) wind turbines to power its Cerna Wind Park in Romania’s Tulcea region. The project will generate enough clean energy to power approximately 7,000 Romanian households when it enters service later this year. GE announced the 17.5-megawatt (MW) deal, which includes equipment supply and service contracts totaling nearly US$30 million, today at the EWEA trade conferencein Vienna, Austria.
“Romania has huge potential for wind energy development,” said Mario Costariol, director of Energia Verde Ventuno, a Romanian special purpose company. “The wind energy sector will be able to develop jobs and help boost the economy, especially in the poorer rural areas of the country.”
The project is co-financed by the European Union through the Sectoral Operational Programme for the Increase of the Economic Competitiveness, underscoring the strategic importance of green power generation in the region. The financing for the construction of the wind park has been provided by a leading European commercial bank and Quercus Assets Selection.
In addition to supplying, erecting and commissioning the wind turbines for Bester Generation, the project’s engineering, procurement and construction contractor, GE has signed a 10-year, full service agreementto support the operation of the Cerna wind farm. The service contract includes a production-based availability guarantee for the customer and GE’s unique condition monitoring system and advanced anomaly detection software, PulsePOINT.
“The Cerna project is the latest example of our commitment to support the growth of wind power in Romania and across Eastern Europe,” said Stephan Ritter, GE’s general manager for renewable energy in Europe. “The use of GE’s advanced wind turbine technology enables high efficiency and reliability and significantly increases wind park production capacity and productivity for our customers in the region.”
An evolutionary product, the 2.5 offers high efficiency and reliability for a broad range of wind conditions. These machines feature larger rotors, higher towers and greater hub heights than previous models, resulting in greater power output. The machines for Cerna will feature 103-meter rotors to maximize annual energy production.
In 2012, GE announced its 2.x MW series wind turbines had surpassed 2 gigawatts of installed capacity worldwide, enough clean electricity to power approximately 1.4 million European households. Today, these machines are operating in 19 countries worldwide, including 14 countries in Europe, and have achieved more than 7 million hours of commercial operation.
The Cerna project builds on GE’s growing technology presence in Romania. GE has supplied wind turbines for the 600-MW Fantanele/Cogealac wind park, Europe’s largest onshore wind project, which is in full operation and is producing enough clean energy to power more than 1 million Romanian households each year. The project utilizes 240 GE 2.5-MW wind turbines, including the 1,000th 2.5 MW class machine installed by GE worldwide. GE technology also is powering a number of other wind farms in Romania, including Mireasa 2, Silistea 2 and Galbiori.
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GE Power & Water provides customers with a broad array of power generation, energy delivery and water process technologies to solve their challenges locally. Power & Water works in all areas of the energy industry including renewable resources such as wind and solar, biogas and alternative fuels; and coal, oil, natural gas and nuclear energy. The business also develops advanced technologies to help solve the world’s most complex challenges related to water availability and quality. Power & Water’s six business units include Distributed Power, Nuclear Energy, Power Generation Services, Renewable Energy, Thermal Products and Water & Process Technologies. Headquartered in Schenectady, N.Y., Power & Water is GE’s largest industrial business.