NATIVE TO THE NORTHEAST
GE’s journey from Manhattan to Rhode Island—and beyond
Just three years after introducing the world to the incandescent light bulb, Thomas Edison opened the first permanent, commercial electric power plant on September 4th, 1882. Located at 255-257 Pearl Street in lower Manhattan, Pearl Power Plant initially provided service to about 80 customers, totaling approximately 400 lightbulbs. Within 12 months, his customer size grew to nearly 500 as Edison brought light to a dark world.
184 nautical miles northeast of Pearl Street, across Long Island Sound, Edison’s vision of providing Americans with safe, reliable, and affordable power lives on through GE Renewable Energy’s support for the first commercial offshore wind farm in the United States. While Ørsted’s Island Wind Farm was the first, it will not be the last, as GE continues to make history off the shores of America’s birthplace.
GLOBAL GROWTH, LOCAL OPPORTUNITIES
Offshore wind is picking up speed in the Northeast U.S.
In the next decade, the global offshore wind industry is expected to grow from 17 to 90 GW, and offshore wind will make up 15% of the total wind industry by 2025. This global growth is creating new opportunities for offshore wind projects, particularly in the Northeast U.S., where the demand for additional power is greatest.
Fortunately the Northeast also has the federal and state support it needs to implement offshore wind. With a recent announcement from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for $18 million in funding for an offshore wind research and development consortium, and a commitment from several states in the region to generate a combined total of more than 15,000 MW from offshore wind by 2035, the time is right for offshore wind off the East Coast—and GE has the latest technology.
Ørsted selects Haliade-X for two of its US offshore wind farms
Chosen by Ørsted, the world-leading offshore wind developer, as the preferred turbine supplier for two of its U.S. offshore wind farms with a combined capacity of over 1.2 GW. The projects in Maryland and New Jersey are expected to be commissioned in 2022 and 2024 respectively. Read more
Haliade-X prototype installed in Rotterdam
We have successfully installed the full Haliade-X 12 MW prototype in the Port of Rotterdam. Local teams will continue to perform commissioning activities on site, in preparation to collect the data needed to obtain the Type Certificate in 2020. Read more
GE’s commitment to offshore wind
GE’s leadership in the offshore wind industry is built on a solid foundation of experience in onshore wind, where GE has long been one of the world’s leading providers with 40,000 onshore turbines installed. Our digital capabilities help customers reduce operating costs and become more competitive in both onshore and offshore industries. A customized set of digital tools is currently being developed for our latest offshore wind turbine—the most powerful in the world.
Follow our journey
Early this year, GE Renewable Energy and Future Wind announced an agreement to install the first Haliade-X 12 MW prototype in the Netherlands, at Rotterdam Port. Onshore installation will allow for the testing, initial operations and data collection required to obtain a Type Certificate before shipping our first units in 2021. Although installation is slated for this summer, components of the Haliade-X 12 MW prototype are currently being assembled.
Learn more about the Haliade-X offshore wind turbine
Ørsted’s Block Island
The first U.S. offshore wind farm
GE successfully installed and commissioned the turbines for the first offshore wind farm in the U.S., located off Block Island, just south of mainland Rhode Island. The five Haliade 150-6MW wind turbines are now providing all the energy needed for the island’s inhabitants—and saving up to 1 million gallons of diesel that were previously burned every year to generate power.
Merkur Offshore Wind Farm
GE recently finished installation of 66 Haliade 150-6MW offshore wind turbines for the Merkur wind farm near Borkum, Germany, in the North Sea. One of Germany’s largest offshore wind farms, Merkur will generate approximately 1,750 GWh annually—enough clean energy to power 500,000 homes in the region.
THE XINGHUA GULF PROJECT
In 2018, GE completed its first offshore wind installation in Asia for Fuqing Haixia Electricity Company. Located in the Xinghua Gulf, GE’s three Haliade 150-6MW turbines are among several wind turbines providing 79 MW of energy—enough energy to power 20,000 households in the region.