GE snaps up offshore wind turbine specialist

US engineering giant General Electric has stepped up its push into the European wind energy market with the acquisition of Norway-based offshore wind turbine specialist ScanWind.

The company announced yesterday that is has completed its acquisition of ScanWind, shelling out an undisclosed sum for the 40-strong company as part of its efforts to bolster its position in the fast-expanding offshore wind energy market.

Citing analysts who have predicted the global offshore wind market will increase twenty-fold to 30GW of installed capacity by 2020, Victor Abate, vice president of Renewable Energy for GE Energy said the deal represented "an important step in our strategy to place GE in a strong position in the growing offshore wind segment".

ScanWind was founded in 1999 and specialises in advanced drive train and turbine technology that eliminates the need for gearboxes. The company, which has designed and developed the 11 turbines operating off the Norwegian coast, claims that the reduction in the number of moving parts improves the reliability of the turbines and cuts maintenance costs.

Abate said that improvements in reliability, such as those promised by ScanWind, will prove essential to the continued growth of the offshore wind industry given that the high maintenance costs that arise from servicing offshore turbines are a major factor in project economics.

The deal further cements GE's position as one of the leading players in the global wind energy market. The company claims to offer the most widely deployed turbine in the world in the form of its 1.5MW series of turbines, 12,000 of which are now in operation globally.

It added that it would now look to integrate ScanWind's design into its portfolio and further enhance the company's turbines by taking advantage of GE's existing manufacturing and supply chain infrastructure.