GE brings 17 MW to life in Northeast

General Electric (GE), seeking to expand its electricity-generating empire, is now entering the solar industry in a big way.

Through its subsidiary Current, the conglomerate announced yesterday that it has signed agreements for 13 new projects totaling 17 MW of capacity across six states in the Northeast. These projects are in addition to a previously announced eight projects on GE properties.

As more commercial properties seek solar-power solutions to reduce electricity costs, GE is hoping to provide solutions to help them do just that.

“The clean energy movement continues to surge ahead, and businesses all over the Northeast are leading the charge, including right here at GE,” said Erik Schiemann, General Manager of Solar at Current. “Smart companies are realizing that solar isn’t just good for the environment, but it can help their bottom lines too.”

Current is installing more than 9 MW of onsite solar power across eight different GE facilities throughout the region along with several outside customer projects, including (all energy savings calculated over lifetime of installations):

• Partners Healthcare’s Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital Cape Cod in Sandwich, Mass., is adding a 1.1 MW carport and ground-mount installation that will produce the equivalent of 70 percent of the hospital’s electricity consumption, as well as two carports at its Newton-Wellesley Hospital facility, which will save the facility more than $4.4 million in energy costs.

• Life-care provider Seabury will save more than $600,000 at its Life Plan community in Bloomfield, Conn., with its ground-mount solutions

• Smith & Wesson‘s aims to reduce its electric bills by $2.8 million over the life of its 2.6 MW solar carport project at its Springfield, Mass, industrial facility.

• The Town of Wallkill, N.Y., has added a 2.4 -W solar plant on a capped landfill, which will provide more than $2 million in savings.

GE isn’t just a provider – it’s also a customer. The company has installed 9.4 MW in solar carport and ground-mount solutions at its own regional facilities in Bridgeport, Conn.; Lynn, Mass.; Marlborough, Mass.; Billerica, Mass.; Hooksett, N.H.; Schenectady, N.Y.; North Greenbush, N.Y.; and Rutland, Vt. These installations are expected to save GE $13.8 million across sites.