GE Renewable Energy, a division of U.S. conglomerate General Electric, Monday announced it has been selected by the Turkish renewable energy company Fina Enerji to supply 52 of its 3-megawatt (MW) platform onshore wind turbines to four wind farms in Turkey.
Planned to be built in Bağlama, TayakadIn, Yalova and Pazarköy, the wind farms will have a total capacity of 193 MW, enough to power the equivalent of 195,000 homes and save about 650,000 tons of carbon dioxide, GE Renewable Energy said in a statement. The contract also includes servicing of the turbines for a period of 10 years.
GE Renewable Energy will produce the 156 wind turbine blades in the Izmir factory of its blade-supplying arm LM Wind Power. Towers will also be produced in the country, the company said.
"GE has been one of the early investors in Turkey and will continue its commitment to create jobs and contribute to the development of high technology in the energy industry," said GE Renewable Energy’s head of onshore wind for the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey region, Manar Al-Moneef.
"We are delighted to be partnering with Fina Enerji Holding again and working on these exciting projects featuring GE’s high-tech 3 MW platform turbines, well suited to Turkey’s wind speeds and landscape," Al-Moneef added.
GE so far has installed 1.2 gigawatts (GW) of wind energy and has built 500 wind turbines in Turkey, including the 350 MW of onshore wind energy projects jointly built by GE Renewable Energy and Fina Enerji.
The new wind farm projects will increase Fina Enerji's installed capacity from 350 MW to 543 MW, said Murat Özyeğin, chairman of the Board of Fiba Group, the owner of Fina Enerji.
"The Bağlama project will be the easternmost wind farm investment in Turkey, and we are particularly proud to contribute to the economic development in this region. We are pleased to sustain our partnership with GE and to contribute to our country's renewable energy targets," Özyeğin noted.