Further advancing its growth in the Nordic region, GE (NYSE: GE) will provide Erikshester Vindpark AB (Erikshester Wind Farm), located in Vetlanda, Sweden, with six GE 1.6-100 wind turbines. Today’s announcement brings GE’s wind energy total in the region to more than 300 megawatts (MW) of power. Once operational, the Erikshester Wind Farm will produce 9.6 MWs of electricity, which would be equivalent to the required annual energy needs of approximately 6,000 homes in Sweden.
“GE’s 1.6-100 wind turbines are well-suited for Erikshester and for Sweden’s varying wind environment,” said Mårten Hermansson, chairman of Erikshester Vindpark AB. “We need our wind farm to maintain high productivity and GE’s wind turbines offer proven efficiency and adaptive abilities.”
The wind farm is owned by Eksjö Energi AB and 11 other shareholders. VETAB is the majority shareholder and also is owned by the municipality.
According to the Swedish Energy Agency, through the European Union’s burden-sharing agreement, Sweden is required to achieve a renewable energy share of 49 percent by 2020. However, Sweden has further raised this goal so that its renewable energy share should be at least 50 percent of the total energy use.
“Erikshester Vindpark selected our turbines for its first wind farm, demonstrating their trust and confidence in our technology. GE has a variety of machines to generate renewable energy in various wind conditions, and we are committed to creating unique, targeted solutions for Sweden,” said Cliff Harris, general manager of GE’s renewable energy business in Europe.
Under a five-year service agreement, the facility also will benefit from around-the-clock remote monitoring and diagnostics through GE’s global wind monitoring center in Salzbergen, Germany, which monitors wind turbines in Europe, Africa and Asia. GE also will oversee the turbine technology via advanced anomaly detection including unplanned maintenance and availability.