Polish power

GE Energy has supplied 39 wind turbines for two new wind farms in northern Poland that will add a total of 58.5MW of wind power capacity to the country's electricity grid.

Wind Farm Kisielice, near the city of Grudziadz, consists of 27 GE Energy 1.5MW wind turbines. In terms of the number of erected turbines, Kisielice is Poland's biggest wind energy project to date. Wind Farm Malbork, near the city of Malbork, includes 12 of GE's 1.5MW machines.

The Kisielice project currently is in the commissioning phase, and 26 of the wind turbines have entered operation. The Malbork project is still under construction.

The power from the new projects will be purchased by Energa, a utility in northern Poland. Both projects are being developed by Iberdrola Energia Odnawialna, a Polish company owned by the Spanish energy company Iberdrola.

These are GE's first projects with 1.5MW turbines in Poland and it is also the first time GE and Iberdrola have teamed up on wind projects in Poland. One of the world's leading private electric utilities, Iberdrola operates in generation, transmission, distribution and marketing of electricity, with services reaching 16m customers.

The wind turbines for the Kisielice and Malbork projects were manufactured at GE Energy's Salzbergen, Germany facilities. To date, more than 6,000 GE 1.5MW machines have been installed for projects worldwide.

According to the European Wind Energy Association, Poland had 142MW of installed wind capacity at the end of June 2006. Forecasts by BTM Consult indicate that up to 550MW of wind power could be installed in the country by the end of 2009.

In addition to the supply of the wind turbines, GE Energy provided erection, commissioning and maintenance services for the Kisielice and Malbork projects.