GE to increase its solar power production

Posted Sep 15th 2009 8:00AM by Connie Madon
Filed under: General Electric (GE)

General Electric Company (NYSE GE) plans to ramp up its solar power division. GE already has a foot in the market, but up to this point it has produced only $200 million in sales.

GE made a minor acquisition in the solar field with the purchase of Astropower, and it acquired a stake in PrimeStar Solar. Now GE is taking a long-term view of the energy market and sees it as a multi-billion dollar industry. Jeff Immelt, GE's chief executive officer, told the Financial Times that energy was "clearly one of the big industrial businesses filled with what I would call seismic change, whether it's clean energy or scarcity of resources."

For the first six months of this year, GE's energy division has generated $17 billion dollars in sales with a net profit of $3.1 billion, up 16% over a year ago.

GE is already a big player in the production of wind turbines for wind energy. The company bought wind power technology from Enron that it parlayed into $65. to $7 billion in sales this year.

GE is selling around $15.00 per share. Would your buy this stock now?

Tags: alternative energy, AlternativeEnergy, energy, General Electric, GeneralElectric, inthenews, solar power