GE may delay wind deliveries to 'cautious' clients
General Electric Co., the world’s biggest maker of power-generation equipment, may delay delivery of new wind turbines as some customers are finding it harder to finance energy projects.
“We haven’t seen any cancellations but we have had discussions with some customers on the financial situation,” said Steve Bolze, who runs GE’s power and water unit, in a telephone interview today from Belfort, France. “Some are looking for delays in delivery because there may be some uncertainty about renewable energy incentives or questions about how they will get financing for projects.”
French power plant maker Theolia SA, part-owned by GE, two days ago abandoned financial and operational targets and said it will slash jobs and sell assets to raise cash. Theolia shares have lost about 80 percent this year. Bolze declined to comment on Theolia, of which GE owns about 17 percent.
In the U.S., Fairfield, Connecticut-based GE gets most of orders within the 32 states that require utilities to buy an increasing portion of their electricity from renewable sources such as wind and solar. Alternative-energy generation has also been boosted by a European Union target to cut greenhouse-gas emissions 20 percent by 2020 from 1990 levels.
`Strong Growth’
“Power and water continue to have very strong growth,” Bolze said. “There will be double-digit revenue growth and profit is expanding.”
GE has seven wind turbine factories in Spain, Germany, China, Canada and the U.S. GE’s Power and Water unit is part of GE Energy Infrastructure, which provided $30.7 billion of the parent company’s $172.7 billion in revenue last year.
GE has “strong” backlogs for wind turbine orders through 2010 and hasn’t had any canceled for gas turbines, Bolze said. “Many customers are European state-owned utilities with strong balance sheets which plan to proceed with projects,” he said.
GE last year got a contract to supply six gas turbine generators to Electricite de France SA, the world’s biggest operator of nuclear power plants, for more than $750 million. GE is also building a power plant for GDF Suez SA in Brittany.
The company will also continue to talk with sovereign wealth funds on projects, Bolze said. GE in July formed an $8 billion venture with Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Development Co. on commercial investments in the Middle East and Africa.
“We have held a number of talks with sovereign wealth funds who have said they are very interested in water technology,” Bolze said. “We will continue with this.”
The funds are in the Middle East, Asia and other parts of the world, he said.
By Tara Patel
19 November 2008
Tags: Wind power, Wind energy
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