EDP Renewables North America LLC (EDPR NA) has selected GE (NYSE: GE) to service its entire fleet of 402 1.5-megawatt (MW) GE wind turbines. The three- year operations and maintenance (O&M) agreement includes several of GE’s latest high-value service offerings and is one of the company’s largest service contracts to date for wind turbines.
The comprehensive agreement has been customized to meet the unique needs of EDPR NA’s five GE wind farms that span three states in the Midwestern United States. The new service contracts comprise routine O&M services, production-based availability guarantees and state-of-the-art monitoring and control solutions. In addition, contracts to boost power production and spare parts agreements were signed with EDPR NA.
“We conducted a very detailed RFQ process for the O&M services, and after significant review and analysis we believe this agreement gives EDPR NA the highest value along with the most comprehensive support available for our world-class facilities,” said Bryan Hayes, chief assets operation officer for EDPR NA “GE’s service solutions will allow us to meet our goals of increasing the reliability, profitability and performance of our wind fleet.”
Service is a strong and growing part of GE’s renewable energy business. The EDPR NA agreement is the second fleet-wide, wind-turbine service agreement GE has recently announced and one of many new service contracts and contract extensions that GE has signed over the past year. Contracts for more than 3,300 wind turbines, representing 20 percent of GE’s total installed base, have been signed over the past 12 months alone. GE’s 1.5-MW machine is the most widely deployed wind turbine in the world, with more than 16,500 units installed globally.
“We see this fleet-wide agreement as a validation of GE’s strategy to align with our customers’ goals to increase power production and revenues from installed base units.” said Diarmaid Mulholland, general manager of wind services for GE Power & Water. “GE has more than doubled our investment in services research and development in both 2010 and 2011 to provide a world-class portfolio of services. It is a major differentiator for us versus other providers and a key resource for our customers.”
GE’s wind service solutionsincorporate the company’s advanced technology, global resources and service facilities and a network of skilled, highly trained local technicians who are closely connected to GE’s engineering organization. GE service agreements also give customers access to GE’s suite of turbine upgrades, which are based on new product evolutions and in-depth product knowledge.