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GE Energy Ships its 10,000th 1.5MW Wind Turbine

November 17, 2008 by Jeff Shepard

GE Energy announced the shipment of its 10,000th 1.5MW wind turbine, described as a global wind industry milestone. Over the past decade, GE’s 1.5MW machines have been installed in 19 countries and have accumulated more than 130 million operating hours, producing more than 78,000 gigawatt-hours of cleaner, wind-generated electricity. The 10,000th unit was shipped to FPL Energy, the largest U.S. generator of wind power, for the Ashtabula Wind Energy Center located in North Dakota.

GE’s fleet of 10,000 1.5MW machines can power more than five million homes and produce more than 50 million megawatt-hours annually. According to GE, compared to other power generation sources, this represents a savings of more than 27 million tons of CO2 emissions each year, the equivalent of removing more than five million U.S. cars from the road.

"We’re very pleased to share this milestone celebration with FPL Energy," said Victor Abate, Vice President-Renewables for GE Energy. "Like GE, FPL Energy is firmly committed to increasing the supply and quality of wind power as a vital step on the road to energy security and energy independence for our country."

"GE Energy is an industry leader and a valued partner," said Mike O’Sullivan, Senior Vice President of FPL Energy. "Having a reliable supply of wind turbines to meet our customers’ growing demand for clean and renewable wind energy has been an important ingredient in the growth and success of our wind business."

"Since 2002, we have invested more than $800 million to drive reliable and efficient wind turbine technology," said Abate. "Continuing this investment is part of our overall commitment to wind power, which will be an integral part of the world energy mix throughout the 21st century."