GE’s most advanced wind turbines in France to feed EDF grid

Diversified US industrial group GE, French developer and energy producer Valorem SAS, and Frecnch financier of renewable energy projects BL Finance opened a new wind farm north of Paris, on 27 November 2009, that ese GE's most advanced wind turbine technology for the first time in France.

Based on wind measurement, the project is estimated to generate annually more than 55,000 MWh of renewable electricity for the power grid of the French utility, EDF.

The installation will help the co-operators, Valorem and Sofivent Développement, a BL Finance subsidiary, to efficiently produce renewable energy for local power needs.

The new project supports France's target to produce 23 per cent of its power from renewable energy sources by 2020. In its latest renewable energy plan, the French ministry for sustainable development set an objective to generate 25,000 MW of its power through wind energy by 2020, where 19,000 MW would be generated by onshore wind farms.

The wind turbines feature GE's advanced grid integration technology, including low voltage ride-thru, enabling the machines to meet the latest stability and availability standards of French power distribution networks.

The European Union aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20 per cent, by taking the share of renewable sources of energy consumption to a 20 per cent. To achieve this the EU has set national targets for each member state.