BIG WIND FROM FLA TO CA VIA ORE

GE Receives $1.4 Billion Contract to Supply Turbines for Largest Wind Farm Ever Built in the US; Caithness Energy’s Oregon Wind Farm to Use GE’s Advanced 2.5xl Machines
December 10, 2009 (GE Energy)

"GE Energy…has received a $1.4 billion contract from independent power producer Caithness Energy to supply wind turbines and provide services for an 845-megawatt (MW) wind farm project to be located in Oregon. The wind farm, called Shepherds Flat, has received the majority of the necessary government permits to operate and is ready to be built. When completed it will be larger than any wind farm currently in operation…

"Stretching across 30 square miles of Gilliam and Morrow Counties in north-central Oregon, near the town of Arlington, the 845-megawatt Shepherds Flat project marks the US debut and largest single global order of GE’s 2.5xl wind turbines. A total of 338 turbines will be installed…The Shepherds Flat wind farm is the first in North America to deploy GE’s 2.5xl wind turbine, which has been proven in Europe and Asia…"

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"Caithness Energy estimates that the $2 billion project will inject $16 million annually of direct economic benefits into Oregon, and will employ 400 workers during construction and 35 during operation. Construction will be on a grand scale not only because of the large number of turbines, but because 85 miles of road and 90 miles of power connection to the grid will be built. Construction will begin in 2010 and will be completed in 2012.

"GE Energy Financial Services -- with a portfolio of more than 40 wind farms with a total capacity to produce more than 6 Gigawatts of electricity -- is investing in the project…[and] will provide ten years of operational and maintenance services to the project…The 2.5xl wind turbines for the Shepherds Flat wind farm will be assembled at GE’s site in Pensacola, Florida…"

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"Under three 20-year power purchase agreements, the Shepherds Flat wind farm will supply renewable energy to Southern California Edison… The project will help California meet…its capacity needs…[its] renewable energy goals…[and the California Renewable Electricity Standard (RES) which, if adopted nationally, would drive the development of New Energy]…

"With the capacity to generate two billion kilowatt-hours per year of renewable energy, the wind farm will represent more than one-tenth of Southern California Edison's overall renewable energy portfolio. The project will provide enough clean energy to power approximately 235,000 average California households…and will avoid more than 1.5 million tons a year in greenhouse gas emissions…"