Summary
- GE has announced it intends to exit the new coal power plant market.
- At the same time, GE said it would focus on its core renewable energy business.
- Within days GE announced two big wind turbine orders for an aggregate of 377 turbines.
- CEO Larry Culp is transforming the company for the 21st Century - which will be dominated by clean energy projects.
A few weeks ago General Electric (GE) announced it "intends to exit the new coal power market." The company said its Steam Power business will continue to work with customers on existing obligations, but the exit may include divestitures, site closings, and layoffs. At the same time, the company said it plans to "focus on and invest in its core renewable energy and power generation businesses, working to make electricity more affordable, reliable, accessible, and sustainable." It's a smart move and somewhat surprising it didn't come earlier. It's ironic that, as CNBC reports, on the same day of the "exit coal" press release, GE announced it would supply the massive Dogger Bank Wind Farm with 190 turbines.
Source: GE
Dogger Bank is the world's largest offshore wind-farm under development. When all three phases are completed, Dogger Bank will be able to provide over 4.5 million UK homes with renewable wind generated electricity. That equates to ~5% of the UK’s total electricity demand. The project confirmed it will use 190 of GE’s 13MW Haliade-X turbines to power phases I & II. It's the largest single order ever for offshore wind turbines. The Haliade-X - with a 220 meter rotor - is the most powerful wind turbine in the world and a single turbine can power up to 16,000 European households (assuming wind conditions on a typical German North Sea site).
Dogger Bank is a joint venture between Equinor (EQNR) and SSE Renewables. Equinor is also involved in the world's largest floating offshore wind project.
Invenergy Order
GE was on a roll - two days after the Dogger Bank news, GE announced a 567MW order with Invenergy consisting of 187-turbines - enough to power the equivalent of more than 160,000 average American homes across three U.S. states. The turbines will be deployed as follows:
- 54 2.X-127 turbines for the 110 MW Crescent Wind Energy Center in Michigan
- 30 2.X-127 and 6 2.X-116 turbines for the 166 MW Contrail Wind Energy Center in Iowa
- 97 2.X-127 for the 300 MW Deuel Harvest Wind Energy Center in South Dakota
And these projects won't take long - all three projects are scheduled to be operational by Q1 of 2021 (or earlier).
