GE Drivetrain Technologies, a unit of GE Transportation, and A-Power Energy Generation Systems in China have signed two letters of intent. One is to have GE Drivetrain Technologies supply A-Power, Beijing, with 2.7-MW wind-turbine gearboxes and a second establishes a Joint Venture partnership for a wind-turbine gearbox assembly plant. Under the first agreement, GE Drivetrain will supply A-Power with more than 900, 2.7-MW gearboxes beginning in 2010.
“Our agreement with A-Power is part of a larger strategy to build a customer base through key strategic partnerships, expand into new geographies, and develop innovative drive trains,” says Prescott Logan, Business Leader GE Drivetrain Technologies. The new assembly plant will bring multi-megawatt gearbox capacity to China and serve as GE Drivetrain Technologies’ Southeast Asia manufacturing center from which it will serve customers in the region by mid-2010. The joint venture, says GE, takes advantage of A-Power’s knowledge of the local market, as well as of GE Drivetrain Technologies’ process and quality expertise.
Recent agreements support China’s initiative to increase wind energy output from 1 GW in 2005 to 30 GW by 2020 and are the basis for additional investments by GE Drivetrain Technologies in its local supply chain and advanced products for wind turbine drive trains, such as its IntegraDrive geared generator.
Filed Under: Components, Gearboxes
