A judge in a federal court yesterday (Wednesday) permanently banned GE Renewable Energy from selling in the US its flagship Haliade-X turbines found to breach a Siemens Gamesa patent, after a case that one expert told Recharge has “enormous commercial impact” for the OEM with billions of dollars of potential orders at stake.
Justice William Young in the US court for the District of Massachusetts ruled that GE “literally infringed on Siemens Gamesa patents” and banned turbines in breach from being sold in the country.
GE and all entities working with the OEM “are hereby permanently enjoined for the life of the 413 Patent (through 12 June 2034) from making, using, offering for sale, selling, importing (into), or installing in the United States (including on or attached to the Outer Continental Shelf)… the adjudged infringing Haliade-X wind turbines,” the ruling stated.
The decision, however, does make accommodation for GE’s request for carve outs for the pioneering Vineyard Wind 1 and Ocean Wind 1 US projects on the basis that no other turbines could be supplied for these early developments in time to meet deadlines, forcing costly delays that would put both the global climate and thousands of jobs at risk.
“While we’re pleased the Ocean Wind I and Vineyard Wind projects are allowed to move forward with the current design of GE’s Haliade-X offshore wind turbine, we respectfully disagree with the injunction,” a GE spokesperson told Recharge. “We’re exploring all legal options to ensure that we can continue to support the growth of offshore wind in the US, including an appeal of today’s ruling.”
The Haliade-X was earlier found to breach a patent owned by Siemens Gamesa for a structural support that enables turbines to be scaled up in size, known by its patent number 413, and was awarded
an unprecedented $30,000 per megawatt royalties.Siemens Gamesa wasn’t satisfied and pushed its claim of “irrevocable harm” to demand a permanent injunction against sales of the Haliade-X in the US.
“Siemens Gamesa welcomes the judgment… enjoining GE from selling their Haliade-X turbine in the US,” a Siemens Gamesa representative told Recharge. “We understand the Court’s decision to carve out the Vineyard Wind and Ocean Wind 1 projects from the injunction, and we will continue to protect and defend our intellectual property.”
The case won’t impact overseas sales of the Haliade-X, which is slated for installation at the 3.6GW
Dogger Bank wind farm, the world’s largest offshore wind installation located in the UK North Sea.
The Haliade-X concept –
first revealed by Recharge in 2018 – uses a 220-metre-diameter rotor made up of 107-metre-long blades from GE-owned LM Wind Power to turn a direct-drive and permanent-magnet-generator transmission system with a 63% gross capacity factor. One 14MW turbine can generate up to 74GWh a year, saving up to 52,000 tonnes of CO
2, according to GE.
The turbine design earned its accreditation as a 12MW machine from classification body DNV and is expected to be sold in 13MW, 14MW and larger models. The royalty payment to Siemens Gamesa would add $390,000 to the cost of a 13MW unit – or $24m in the case of the order for the
800MW Vineyard 1.GE downplayed the impact of the ruling and
previously suggested it had other versions of the Haliade-X that didn’t infringe on Siemens Gamesa patents that could be made available to the market.
“Our customers are aware that we can and will explore other design options that enable us to bring the benefits of the Haliade-X to the US,” the company told Recharge. “We are fully committed to the US offshore wind industry, to each of our ongoing projects, and remain confident in the legal and technical options available to us.”
'Appeal almost irrelevant'
Philip Totaro, CEO of renewable energy data analytics firm IntelStor and an IP expert, told
Recharge that GE’s options were unlikely to mitigate the damage caused by the ruling.
“This is an enormous commercial impact,” Totaro said.
“The outcome of the appeal is almost irrelevant,” he added. “Even if GE is successful in overturning the ruling, it could be 18 months before that happens. They are losing precious time when it comes to selling their turbine in a growing market.”
Totaro claimed that based on the current average price range for offshore wind turbines being offered for sale in the US, “GE will stand to miss out on $16.3bn in product sales, until or unless GE comes out with the alternative design which bypasses the SGRE (Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy) patent”.
Totaro calculates that GE has over 11GW of firm and potential orders in the US for the Haliade-X, 9GW of which have now been blocked by the ruling.
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