The companies have also signed an LOI to establish a Joint Venture (JV) partnership for a wind turbine gearbox assembly plant.

Under the supply agreement, GE Drivetrain Technologies will supply A-Power with more than 900 2.7 MW gearboxes beginning in 2010.

Prescott Logan, Business Leader GE Drivetrain Technologies, says: “The speed and focus that A-Power has brought to building its wind turbine business, combined with the highly reliable design of its Fuhrländer 2.7 MW turbine, position A-Power well for long-term success in China and the broader global market.”

The companies' JV agreement also creates a wind turbine gearbox assembly business that will be majority owned by GE Drivetrain Technologies and operate under the name GE Transportation. The new assembly plant will bring multi-megawatt gearbox capacity to China and serve as GE Drivetrain Technologies’ Southeast Asia manufacturing centre from which it will serve its customers in the region beginning in mid-2010.

The agreements are said support China’s initiative to increase wind energy output from 1 GW in 2005 to 30 GW by 2020 and are the basis for additional future investments by GE Drivetrain Technologies in its local supply chain and advanced wind turbine drive train products, such as its IntegraDrive geared generator.