Seeking to improve on their various generation plays across thecountry, Panda Energy International, Inc., signed an $800 millionlong-term service agreement contract with GE Power Systems coveringsix power plants currently under development, Panda said yesterday.The service agreements and commitment represents purchases of 24gas turbines and 12 steam turbines.

The new power plants will be located in Oklahoma, Arizona, Floridaand Pennsylvania with the other sites to be named later. Two Floridaprojects were announced last week (see Daily GPI, March 8). Both plants will generate 1,000MW and burn 170 MMcf/d.

“The Panda-GE partnership will deliver a competitive operatingadvantage,” said Bob Carter, CEO, Panda Energy. “This uniqueagreement includes guaranteed parts availability, GE servicetechnicians around the clock, and improved equipment performancewhich all translates into improved power plant reliability.”

The GE subsidiary is no stranger to large turbine deals. LastOctober, the turbine supplier inked a $1.9 billion 28-turbine dealwith Entergy Corp.

The long-term service agreements, the first to be signed withPanda, will cover all scheduled maintenance on theturbine-generators for 12 years. GE Energy Services now has morethan $9 billion in commitments for long-term service agreementsworldwide.

“The Panda-GE agreement is the latest example of how powerproducers in today’s competitive market are seeking servicerelationships with companies that can help them extract thegreatest sustained efficiency and reliability from their powerplants,” added Ricardo Artigas, president of GE Energy Services,the global services arm of GE Power Systems.

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