GE Energy, the energy equipment division of General Electric,says the next few years will see more contracts signed of similarvalue to that which won the company the right to deliver windturbines for the 1.1 billion-euro CEZ wind farm in Dobrogea (SERomania).
"If we consider the two stages of the CEZ wind farm takentogether - it can be regarded as one of the most importantcontracts sealed in Romania so far," says Rod Christie, presidentof GE Energy for Central and Eastern Europe, Russia and CIS.
GE Energy has recently won a contract to deliver 101 windturbines for the farm that CEZ will be building in Cogealac, withthe Americans also winning the first stage of the auction, whichconsisted in the delivery of 139 turbines for the farm inFantanele. According to company representatives, the first part ofthe contract was worth 600 million dollars (around 410 millioneuros), with market sources saying the Americans will receivearound 300 million euros for the second part.
The farm that the Czechs will make operational in 2011, andwhich will be capable of generating 600 MW, will be Europe'slargest onshore wind farm.
"Around 100 GE employees and subcontractors, from servicetechnicians to project managers and engineers, are present inFantanele, working on the construction stage currently underway.They come from countries such as Germany, Brazil, and the US, whereour plants are, but also from Romania," says the GE Energyrepresentative, adding that the group will also build a servicecentre close to the two wind farms in Fantanele and Cogealac.
"At present, less than 1% of Romania's energy is wind-generated.At the end of 2008, Romania had a 10-MW installed wind powercapacity out of the around 65,000-MW overall installed wind powercapacity in the EU," says Christie. According to Europeanstatistics cited by the GE Energy representative, it is preciselythis lack of investments in wind power that creates the premisesfor future contracts with a similar value to be concluded betweenCEZ and GE Energy.
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