Paris, France, April 20 — GE completes acquisition of LM Wind Power for $1.65B. After the purchase had been announced last year’s October, both parties had been busy to finish their merging efforts.
Nowadays, different sources of energy are being used by different countries. We have solar panels, hydroelectric generators, wind turbines, and a whole lot more.
General Electric Company (GE) provides energy producing infrastructures as one of its many different ways it operates. Infrastructures like aero-derivative turbines, nuclear reactors, generators, and wind turbines.
Why would GE acquire LM Wind Power in the first place?
LM Wind Power is an independent supplier of blades for wind turbines, offering blade development, manufacturing, service, and logistics which means that for GE it would certainly boost wind turbine blade design and manufacturing capacity for their renewable energy business. More wind turbines mean more sources of energy to substitute for fossil fuels.
How important are wind turbines?
Wind turbines are a great help to maintaining the environment and are great sources of energy, using the wind as a way to produce mechanical energy to power up generators. Wind blades, the main product of LM Wind Power, are essential to how wind turbines function. The kind and quality of material that you use for this blades can greatly affect the efficiency of the turbines.
Using wind turbines cannot only produce clean energy but also provide opportunities to different countries for tourism growth. For example, the only wind farm in the Philippines also serves as a famous tourist spot.
How would GE’s acquisition affect the world?
GE’s acquisition of LM Wind Power could impact the world of energy source alternatives greatly. It could serve as a gateway to possibilities of having more wind farms and more technological advances in the field of wind turbines.
Of course, LM Wind Power would continue to supply blades to other companies specializing in the wind industry.
As of now, it is said that LM Wind Power would open a new blade manufacturing facility in Cherbourg, Normandy, France now making it the 14th facility aside from the 13 facilities located in different countries such as Denmark, Spain, Poland, Canada, the US, India, China, and Brazil.
Leadership insight
Jérôme Pécresse, President, and CEO of GE Renewable Energy said, “The completion of the LM Wind Power acquisition provides us with the operational efficiencies necessary to support the growth of our wind turbine business, which is the fastest growing segment of power generation. With LM’s technology and blade engineering, we are now able to improve the overall performance of our wind turbines, lowering the cost of electricity and increasing the value for our customers. Together, we are set to capitalize on the expansion of renewable energy and be a growth engine for GE.”
Marc de Jong, CEO of LM Wind Power, said, “LM Wind Power has had a long-standing partnership with GE that has yielded many innovations and commercial successes, including the installation of the first-ever offshore wind farm in the United States. We see many digital and advanced manufacturing technology capabilities that will help accelerate our technology development and increase our customer reach.”
Photo credit: LM Wind Power / GE Renewable Energy
Source: LM Wind Power / GE Renewable Energy / Ronn Bautista (Reuters)
Editorial notice: The quotes have been provided as part of a public press release.
