GE moves past ruling
Legal, technical options pursued after judge’s turbine manufacturing ban
COEYMANS — There is plenty of local excitement around General Electric’s plans to build two large factories at the Port of Coeymans that would employ nearly 900 people making components for offshore wind turbines for use in a proposed wind farm off the coast of Long Island.
But GE is currently prohibited by a federal judge in Boston from actually making or selling its Haliade-x turbines after GE lost a patent-infringement case brought against it by Siemens Gamesa, one of its main rivals in the offshore wind market.
After a jury decided GE had violated one of Siemens Gamesa’s patents covering rotor technology used in its offshore wind turbine designs, U.S. District Court Judge William Young banned GE from making, selling or installing its Haliade-x in the U.S. through the life of the patent, which expires in 2034. The patent covers the design of parts that connect the wind turbine’s blades and rotor to the main shaft of the turbine.
GE was allowed to keep selling its Haliade-x turbines for two U.S. projects that were already underway when the case occurred. One is off Martha’s Vineyard, and the other, called Ocean Wind, is located off New Jersey. GE was allowed this “carve-out” in the ban in exchange for paying Siemens Gamesa a royalty fee
of $30,000 per rated-megawatt capacity. The Haliade-x is made in several versions, with the 14-megawatt model being the largest.
That would seem to preclude GE making
its Haliade-x turbines at the Port of Coeymans anytime soon — but GE, which currently makes its Haliade-x turbines in Europe, says it has a solution to satisfy the court’s ruling and also remain com▶