BIG WIND FOR ROMANIA

GE Energy to Supply 140 Wind Turbines for Romanian Windfarms
March 19, 2009 (Industrial Info Resources via Pumps&Systems)

"GE Energy…of General Electric Company…will supply nearly 140 wind turbines for the Fantanele and Cogealac windfarm projects in Romania. The projects signify the largest installation, in terms of power generation capacity, of GE's wind turbines in Europe to date.

"In August 2008, power conglomerate CEZ Group… (Prague, Czech Republic) bought the two adjacent windfarms in Constanta County from Continental Wind Partners LLC (Wilmington, Delaware). When both windfarms are fully operational, the complex will have a power generation capacity of 600-MW, making it nearly twice as large as the next largest European windfarm. CEZ is investing $1.4 billion in the project, aimed at helping Romania meet the European Union's requirements of increasing the share of renewable sources to 20 percent in the energy portfolio by 2020."

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"The first stage of the project will have an installed capacity of 347.5-MW and will use 139 GE 2.5xl turbines. Each turbine has a capacity of 2.5-MW, and a rotor diameter of 99 meters, and will stand 100 meters above ground level. Construction of this stage started in September 2008 and it is planned to be operational by the end of 2009. The second stage, with a capacity of 252.5-MW, is planned to go on stream by the end of 2010. The combined output will provide almost 10 percent of Romania's renewable energy. Current wind power generation in Romania is only 7-MW, which makes the project a significant milestone in wind energy production in Eastern Europe.

"GE Energy…will also supply supervisory control and data acquisition systems, monitoring equipment and substation control systems for the Romanian power transmission network…"