LM Wind Power, a unit of GE Renewable Energy, opened a new Technology Center Americas facility in North America to test and develop new technology for turbine blades, the company announced Thursday.
The Technology Center Americas facility was originally part of Blade Dynamics, which GE bought in 2015. The facility was combined with LM Wind Power earlier this year after GE Renewable Energy acquired it in 2017.
As part of the expansion of the facility, the GE Renewable Energy business plans to hire up to 100 additional employees by 2021 on top the 50 currently employed at the facility, an increase of over 200 percent.
The company will partner with local universities and community colleges to develop training programs to ensure a qualified pool of applicants have the manufacturing skill sets necessary to fill positions in various engineering disciplines.
'The new facility is ideally situated to serve the fast-growing U.S. wind power market. The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) estimates that the pipeline of wind farms under construction or in advanced development now totals 33,449 megawatts, a 40 percent increase over 2017,' according to the statement.
AWEA reports that there is almost 90,000 MW of wind capacity in the U.S. provided by more than 54,000 wind turbines.
LM Wind Power, a GE Renewable Energy Business, is a world leading turbine blade designer and manufacturer with factories in Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, India, Poland, Spain, France, Turkey and the United States.
The company said it has produced more than 205,000 blades since 1978, corresponding to more than 93 gigawatts of installed capacity while saving 189 million tons of CO2 annually.
By Gulsen Cagatay
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr