Wind Energy Investment Deal Announced by GE

Wind energy is a renewable energy investment that GE Energy Financial Services believes in. Reinforcing their 'ecomagination' program, they recently announced that it has raised its 2010 renewable energy investing target by 50 percent to $6 billion, and has just topped $3 billion. GE EFS, a unit of GE, crossed the $3 billion mark with its single highest-value wind deal, a $300 million investment in wind projects spanning four states. It's quickly catching on because people are finally becoming more aware of the endless advantages.

GE EFS (Energy Financial Services) is investing equity in the 600-megawatt portfolio of wind farms in Oregon, Minnesota, Illinois and Texas, companies owned by Houston-based ‘Horizon Wind Energy LLC' They're a large US developer that is a subsidiary of EDP (Energias de Portugal, SA). Hopefully this is a step towards a cleaner and brighter tomorrow, as it's a natural source that will not pollute the earth, nor will we have to rely on other countries for any reason - it's something that can be set up anywhere in the world.

GE Energy Financial Services' goal of investing $6 billion by 2010 is a major acceleration of a previously announced target of $4 billion. This is exactly what our country needs: clean, renewable wind energy that we can derive constant electricity from. One farm can power an entire city, and although it is expensive to build and operate a windmill farm, it's a consistent and endless resource. The advantages far outweigh the disadvantages. It's a fact that our country would benefit from more natural resources, anyone can agree with that.

"Thanks to our strong customer relationships, our expertise, GE's technical capabilities, high fossil fuel prices and popular support for cleaner power, renewable energy such as wind energy has become our fastest-growing business," said Alex Urquhart, President and CEO of GE Energy Financial Services. "With our broad capabilities to invest equity and debt within and outside the United States -- not only in wind but in solar,

biomass, hydro and geothermal power -- we have become a major player in a $60 billion annual renewable energy market."

GE Energy Financial Services closed more than $2 billion of renewable energy transactions last year, and by 2010 expects they will comprise 20-25 percent of its overall energy and water portfolio, up from about 10 percent in 2006. Wind is GE Energy Financial Services' most active renewable energy investing area. With the Horizon transaction announced today, it has invested or committed to invest equity in 85 wind farms and increased the total capacity of its global wind equity holdings to more than 3,600 megawatts.

Many people are unaware of just how beneficial converting to natural resources would be. It would make the quality of life for all US residents better, and would help protect our environment as well. It's ludicrous that with all the information we have about global warming and pollution, that we are still destroying our planet with harmful, toxic forms of power. More and more people are starting to realize that the damage is worse than the government implies. Only resources like natural wind energy can help reverse this damage, so hopefully GE's investment is just one small step of many.