GE: BIG WIND

Maybe this is an example of why greenwashing is not so bad.

Investing In Its Biggest Wind Farm, in Texas, GE Unit Expands Wind Energy Portfolio
May 24, 2007 (Business Wire via Yahoo Finance)

WHO
GE Energy Financial Services (Kevin Walsh, Managing Director), Wachovia Corp., Babcock & Brown (Hunter Armistead, wind energy group head), Catamount Energy
click to enlarge
WHAT
GE Energy Financial and Wachovia will go 50/50 on 2 Texas windfarms totaling 241 megawatts of output.

WHEN
- Construction of Sweetwater 4 began August, 2006, and will complete May, 2007.
- Construction of Sweetwater 5 began February, 2007, and will complete December, 2007.

WHERE
- windfarms: 20 miles southwest of Sweetwater, Texas, in Nolan County
- announcement: Universal Studios California, GE's "Green is Universal" exhibition

WHY
- The 2 windfarms represent 241 megawatts of wind energy, moving Texas toward its target of 5,880 megawatts of renewable energy by 2015.
- Sweetwater 4: 135 Mitsubishi 1.0-megawatt turbines, 46 Siemens 2.3-megawatt turbines; output sold to CPS Energy of San Antonio
- Sweetwater 5: 35 Siemens turbines, 80-megawatts sold at market prices.
- Babcock & Brown will manage/operate
- GE Energy Financial has or takes part in 29 wind farms.
click to enlarge
QUOTES
- Walsh: "This investment - along with a transaction we announced today in Roscoe, TX -- brings the total capacity our global wind equity holdings to more than 1,900 megawatts, and further diversifies our wind technology…in the spirit of GE's ecomagination initiative, these two wind farms will produce enough power for more than 90,000 homes and avoid 730,000 tons a year in greenhouse gas emissions, compared to equivalent fossil fuel generation."
- Armisted: "It is exciting to see the growth of this project…The addition of phases 4 and 5 brings the total capacity of the Sweetwater project to 585 MW and makes it one of the largest wind farms in the world."