Istanbul, Turkey, 9 March 2020 - GE Renewable Energy announced today that Sanko Energy will provide 12 Cypress units and 2 units of 3 MW units to the 70 MW capacity Southern Wind Farm in Turkey. The wind farm will generate enough clean energy to meet the needs of 71,000 homes, saving around 200,000 tons of CO2. The project will help Turkey achieve its goal of meeting two-thirds of its energy needs with renewable energy. The wind farm to be established in Bursa is planned to complete its construction and start commercial activities in the last quarter of 2020. GE's scope of work includes a 10-year service agreement.
The South Wind Farm will be the second onshore wind farm to be built jointly by Sanko Enerji and GE Renewable Energy. This is the third order GE has received for the Cypress platform, the largest onshore wind turbine in this field in Turkey. In addition, with this project, the total capacity of the installed wind energy systems that GE has produced in Turkey to date is 1.2 GW and the number of wind turbines it has produced has increased to 500.
Turkey, one of the countries with the highest number of orders for GE's Cypress onshore wind platform, has so far purchased wind turbines that have delivered a total capacity of 255 MW. Cypress technology adapts well to wind energy projects and the geographical features of Turkey. Cypress; It enables significant improvements in annual Power Generation, increased efficiency in service, the potential for better logistics and positioning, and as a result, more value for customers. The two-piece blade design enables the production of even longer blades, improves logistics to reduce costs and offers more positioning options at previously undetectable sites.
Manar Al-Moneef, President and CEO of GE Renewable Energy Onshore Wind Turbine Group Middle East, North Africa and Turkey, said: "Turkey is a country with enormous potential to achieve ambitious wind energy goals. To contribute to this, we are delighted to collaborate once again with Sanko Energy, both to generate more renewable energy and to help reduce the costs of wind energy through innovative technologies."
GE Renewable Energy will produce its revolutionary two-piece wind turbine blades locally at its LM Wind Power's facilities in Bergama, Izmir. GE employs over 550 people at these facilities. At the end of April 2019, the decision was made to invest $30 million in the hiring of 300 new employees and expanding the existing facility to make this manufacturing facility ready for the production of innovative two-part blades that will be mounted on GE's Cypress turbines. The towers of the wind turbines will also be produced in Turkey.