Group items tagged

BOSTON (Reuters) - U.S. conglomerate General Electric Co (GE.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Abu Dhabi investment agency Mubadala Development Co said on Tuesday they have entered into an $8 billion joint venture with an initial focus on providing commercial finance in the Middle East and Africa.The two companies also plan to work together in the clean energy and water, aviation, and oil and gas sectors, they said."This partnership is consistent with our global growth initiatives and builds on our long-term relationships in a high-growth region like the Middle East," said Jeff Immelt, chief executive of GE, the second-largest U.S. company by market value.The companies said Mubadala "plans over time" to become one of the Fairfield, Connecticut-based company's ten largest shareholders, by acquiring shares in the open market.They also aim to establish a clean energy technology center in Masdar City, a new city in Abu Dhabi that aims to be carbon neutral. GE plans to commit up to $50 million for Masdar's second clean-tech fund.Growth in the Middle East has been a major thrust for GE in recent years. Last year the company generated $5 billion in revenue in the region, up 50 percent from the prior year.

This week, GE announced that in the first quarter of next year the company will "introduce" energy management-enabled appliances that can be controlled remotely by the local utility. GE says it is working on smart refrigerators, ranges, washer and dryers, dishwashers and microwave ovens, and it will use some of the first smart appliances in select homes in a pilot program in Louisville, Ky., with Louisville Gas and Electric Company.

China will begin subsidizing the production of wind power turbines, according to an announcement made last Friday. The subsidy will only be available to Chinese majority-owned turbine manufacturers, who will be eligible to receive $88 per kilowatt for the first 50 units capable of generating at least 1.5 megawatts of power. In addition, the subsidy can only be used for research and development. This is the first Chinese subsidy specifically focusing on the wind power industry and it is meant to make Chinese companies more competitive with turbine makers like GE (NYSE: GE) in the U.S., Vestas Wind Systems (VWS.CO) in the Netherlands and India's Suzlon (SUZL.BO).

GE Energy has acquired Kelman Limited of Lisburn, Northern Ireland, a provider of advanced monitoring and diagnostics technologies for transformers, enhancing GE's smart grid product portfolio. GE's smart grid offerings are designed to help utilities increase productivity and reliability of both traditional and renewable energy generating assets, while also providing consumers with information to better manage their electricity use and expenses.

Czech utility, CEZ Group (CEZ.BE), is investing 1.1 billion euros in a Romanian wind farm with a projected capacity of 600 megawatts (MW), which--when completed--will be the largest onshore wind farm in Europe. CEZ bought the development rights for two projects from Continental Wind Partners LLC (CWP), which will manage the construction, set to begin next month. The project will combine adjacent Fantanele and Cogealac wind farms. Together, the two projects will be about twice the size of the next largest fully permitted onshore wind farm in Europe, and triple the size of the largest operational wind farm in Europe. The project, which is located about 17 kilometers from the Black Sea, will be completed in two stages. The first stage of 347.5 MW is expected to be completed by the end of 2009. It will comprise 139 GE wind turbines.

Here is what we had in the initial KMC Futures trend. See also the alliance with GE.

"Asia Pacific: The Largest Market for Switchgear The Asia-Pacific region holds the largest market for switchgear, driven largely by the number of transmission and distribution line up gradations and developments in the South East Asia. These developments are due to its growing energy needs is the major growth engine for this market. Utilities: Biggest Market by Application Switchgear is mostly used in Transmission & Distribution by power utility companies. They are used for switching the equipment or the circuit during the event of fault. With the growing transmission and distribution network across globe, the number of substations will keep on increasing. This increasing number of substations is expected to increase the use and demand for switchgears. Maximum T&D expansion projects are ongoing in Asia-Pacific and the market is expected to be the biggest and the fastest growing market for switchgear. The Switchgear industry is fragmented and offers several opportunities for consolidation and growth in efficiency through an increase in economies of scale. The industry has low entry and exit barriers. This is a major driver of the Switchgear Market. Top players of the PR market are ABB (Switzerland), Eaton Corporation (Ireland), GE (U.S.), and Siemens AG (Germany)."

"A new research report says growing significance of renewable power generation will spur growth in the electrical transformer market for next few years with ABB Ltd., Alstom SA, General Electric (GE) and Siemens AG featured as key vendors in the industry."