Greentech Lead New York: GE has completed its 20,000th wind turbine installation, coinciding with its 10-year
anniversary in the wind industry.
Altogether, GE’s 20,000-turbine fleet has the capacity to
power the cities of Hong Kong and London for an entire year.
GE achieved its 10,000th turbine milestone in
November 2008; its 15,000th in February 2011; and 20,000th
installation now in 2012.
“We couldn’t have achieved this milestone without our development partners,”
said Vic Abate, vice president of renewable energy for GE. “Together, we have
advanced wind to its current status as a relevant, reliable, competitive source
of energy.”
In the U.S. and Europe, 40 percent of new power generation installations over
the last four years have been wind.
Since its inception in 2002, GE’s renewables
business has led the global advancement of wind energy through lowered costs
and increased reliability, the company said. During the past decade, technology
has driven wind’s availability from 85 percent to 98.5 percent and a 3x
reduction in the cost of electricity.
This year, GE will install more than 3,000 wind turbines around the world. The
company’s extensive manufacturing, sourcing and logistics network have proven
essential to delivering to tight timelines and schedules.
Projects range from single turbine installations on farms
in the Midwest to multi-megawatt projects on the West Coast, each requiring
special attention for successful delivery.
With 20,000 GE wind turbines operating worldwide, data analytics are critical
to optimizing wind power and maximizing investment in the technology. GE’s
PulsePOINT advanced monitoring and diagnostic software is analogous to
predictive health for a human being. It works to identify problems on the
turbine before causing downtime or major failures. Thereby, this achieves
optimal energy production through increased turbine reliability and
availability.
GE’s wind services business, which provides PulsePOINT, helps customers get the
most out of their wind projects. The company more than doubled its investment
in services research and development in 2010 and 2011 while developing its
world-class portfolio.