GE bags record-smashing 2.4GW turbine deal for SunZia wind megaproject

GE Vernova today (Tuesday) announced a blockbuster 2.4GW order with Pattern Energy to supply 674 of its next-generation 3.6-154 wind turbines for the SunZia project in the US state of New Mexico, the OEM’s largest onshore contract in its 20-year history in the industry.

The order includes long-term services for the vendor’s latest “workhorse" turbine whose launch customer will be Pattern.

“We are pleased to support Pattern Energy on this monumental project that reinforces the key role wind power has in delivering renewable energy to meet the growing demand for power in the western US and in accelerating the energy transition,” said Scott Strazik, CEO of GE Vernova.

The 2,022 GE-designed single-piece turbine blades will be sourced from LM Wind Power, part of GE Vernova, whose US plant is in Grand Forks, North Dakota, and by TPI Composites, from its factories in Newton, Iowa, and in Mexico.

All turbine components manufactured in the US will be eligible for lucrative federal tax credits available in the landmark 2022 federal climate law.

GE's fulfilment plan calls for initiating delivery of the turbines later this year, through 2025, and into 2026. Pattern aims to have the 3.5GW wind farm and a related new 550-mile (885 km) interstate transmission line that will carry most of the electric power to California and adjacent states in full commercial operation by mid-2026.

GE's previous largest onshore order was for 531 turbines totaling 1.49GW of power generation capacity in 2021 for three Invenergy projects in Oklahoma.

'All about the turbine'

Abate said GE believes it brought certain advantages to the table to win such a large contract.

"Obviously, the turbines. It's all about the product in my view," he said. GE claims the 3.6-154, which was designed specifically for the US, delivers the highest efficiency in the market.

With the 3.6-154, SunZia will get a higher capacity factor "which means not only does the wind farm benefit from those economics, but it also benefits grid costs because the grid is being used more efficiently."

The 3.6-154 is built "on the back" of GE's proven 2.8-127 turbine, billed by GE as the number one machine in the world over the last two years with 20GW of installed capacity, and more than 200 million operating hours of experience.

"Customers really want to leverage the large, proven fleet of the 2.8-127," he continued, noting SunZia will benefit from having that supply chain that is a big slice of the economics, cost, and availability of parts.

"We get all sorts of data from all different operating environments. We're continuing to feed that back into our engineers, and then to our suppliers and our manufacturing facilities to continuously improve," said Abate, adding SunZia will be "the largest project to use this workhorse turbine."

The two sides collaborated over 18 months on SunZia development and supply chain work to optimise site layouts and performance while minimising unnecessary turbine variants.

GE Vernova supported the turbine deal with its consulting services group that worked with Pattern on highly technical issues related to SunZia grid interconnection, while its financial services business provided a sizeable tax equity term loan commitment that enabled construction lenders to reach financial close.

"To be honest, those are very helpful but the big differentiator here was the capability of the product and the technology that we bring to bear in our workhorse turbine," said Abate.

San Francisco-based Pattern in late December sealed an $11bn financing package for SunZia, the largest thus far for a US renewable energy project.

With the spin-off of GE Vernova in sight, what does the SunZia turbine order signify for GE's renewables business and the parent's ongoing effort to return the division to profitability before then?

Abate said: "It's very foundational when you think about an order of this size. It's a substantial amount of business that illustrates how we've successfully positioned our workhorse products and strategy."