GE, Dept. of Energy Enter Partnership

GE Global Research in Niskayuna announced it has entered into a $27 million partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy to design a next-generation offshore wind turbine. As part of this new project, GE and the Department of Energy will collaborate on research to develop a prototype of a 5-7 megawatt offshore wind turbine that would be nearly twice today's industry standard, GE said. The research for the new project will be conducted at GE's Global Research Center in Niskayuna during the next three or four years. Wind energy is a key component of GE's ecomagination initiative. GE announced ecomagination in May. The company spends $750 million a year now on what it calls "ecotechnology," an amount that is expected to double by 2010. Part of the plan includes introducing more ecologically friendly products each year, including some related to renewable sources such as wind and solar. Wind energy is the fastest growing sector in the energy market and could grow to as much as 15 percent of the overall global energy supply in the coming decades. (Source: Albany Business Review)