Wind in Aberdeen

To help GE Energy meet the worldwide demand for wind turbines, Molded Fiber Glass Companies (MFG) have opened a new wind turbine manufacturing plant in Aberdeen, South Dakota that will build blades for GE's 1.5MW machine, one of the most widely used wind turbines in the world.

The new facility will be owned by the Aberdeen Development Corporation (ADC), and leased and operated by Molded Fiber Glass Companies (MFG), a producer of composite parts for a variety of industries, including wind energy, automotive, heavy truck, material handling, water treatment, construction, and defence.

The $40m investment in the new plant will result in the creation of up to 750 jobs. The facility will also enable MFG to increase the volume of wind turbine blade sets being supplied to GE Energy, starting in 2008.

'GE currently has over 6,500 1.5MW wind turbines in operation worldwide. By the end of 2008, we expect that number to exceed 10,000 units,' said Victor Abate, Vice President-Renewables for GE Energy. 'The new MFG facility in Aberdeen will significantly increase the manufacturing capacity of our supply chain, as we continue to face strong demand for wind turbines in the US and worldwide.'

In recent weeks, GE Energy has announced agreements of nearly $1.5bn to supply wind turbines for projects in the US and Europe that will produce more than a gigawatt of new wind power.

Most recently, energy provider Invenergy Wind agreed to purchase an additional 800MW of wind turbines from GE for use in projects slated for construction in 2009 in North America and Europe.

With a 500 per cent increase in wind turbine production since 2004, GE expects its wind business revenues to exceed $4bn this year. Over the past two years, GE has supplied wind turbines representing more than 50 per cent of the new wind capacity across the US.