GE to increase focus on wind farm investment

www.businessspectator.com.au
27 Feb 2013

Global conglomerate General Electric Co is firmly committed to bankrolling new wind power and other energy projects in Australia, despite community opposition to wind farms, according to The Australian.

GE has significantly increased its exposure to the oil and gas industry over the past two years, but the company's global vice-chairman, John Rice, said GE plans to refocus on infrastructure projects, including "two or three" in Australia.

"We are having discussions with third-party financial institutions about partnering in ways that will help get wind projects developed and other important energy projects", Mr Rice said, according to The Australian.

"There is capital available but it is not coming from the same places (as) before the GFC. A lot of this is done by the European banks. So, if we want to be successful long-term in the infrastructure space, we have to be one of the groups that connects capital with those infrastructure projects. That may involve product development work, which we have done a lot of over time, but his is a new world".