STANTON, Texas & STAMFORD, Conn.--Nov. 1, 2007--GE Energy Financial Services, a unit of General Electric Company (NYSE: GE), is investing in a 120-megawatt wind farm in Texas with Invenergy Wind LLC, a leading global wind power developer.
GE Energy Financial Services is investing in the Stanton Wind Energy LLC project. Financial details were not disclosed. Sited in a region known for oil and gas production, farming and ranching in Martin County in west Texas, midway between Fort Worth and El Paso, the Stanton Wind farm will employ 80 GE 1.5-megawatt sle wind turbines. Started in the summer of 2007, construction is scheduled for completion by April 2008, when Stanton will annually produce power sufficient for 37,000 homes and avoid 285,000 tons a year in greenhouse gas emissions, compared to equivalent fossil fuel generation.
With this investment, GE Energy Financial Services holds equity in
51 wind farms worldwide, with a capacity to produce more than 2,550 megawatts of electricity. It plans to double its more than $2 billion of renewable energy investments by 2010.
The project interconnects with Oncor, the transmission affiliate of TXU, at the Midland East to Big Springs West 138 kV line. All power will be sold into the ERCOT market. Energy price risk is hedged through a long-term agreement with Credit Suisse Energy.
Texas leads US states in installed wind power, and this investment will help the state meet its requirement to produce 5,880 megawatts of its power from renewable sources by 2015. With large tracts of flat open land and the second highest wind energy potential in the United States, Texas is an attractive region for wind power investment.
"This investment is a fresh example of how we're pursuing growth opportunities in Texas, with experienced developers such as Invenergy," said Kevin Walsh, Managing Director and leader of renewable energy at GE Energy Financial Services. "Stanton Wind brings the number of wind farms in which GE Energy Financial Services has invested in Texas to five, representing 770 megawatts."
The Stanton Wind investment reinforces GE's ecomagination initiative, a program to help its customers meet their environmental challenges while expanding its own portfolio of cleaner energy products.
About GE Energy Financial Services
GE Energy Financial Services' 350 experts invest globally with a long-term view, backed by the best of GE's technical know-how and financial strength, across the capital spectrum and the energy and water industries, to help their customers and GE grow. With $16 billion in assets, GE Energy Financial Services, based in Stamford, Connecticut, invests more than $5 billion annually in two of the world's most capital-intensive industries, energy and water. In renewable energy, GE Energy Financial Services is growing its portfolio of more than $2 billion in assets in wind, solar, biomass, hydro and geothermal power. More information:
www.geenergyfinancialservices.com.
About GE
GE (NYSE: GE) is Imagination at Work -- a diversified technology, media and financial services company focused on solving some of the world's toughest problems. With products and services ranging from aircraft engines, power generation, water processing and security technology to medical imaging, business and consumer financing, media content and advanced materials, GE serves customers in more than 100 countries and employs more than 300,000 people worldwide. For more information, visit www.ge.com.
Andy Katell
GE Energy Financial Services Senior Vice President Communications
[email protected]
1-203-961-5773