GE invests in alternative fuels

Fifteen days after the announcement of a new investment of US$ 100 million for the construction of a research and development centre in the city of Rio de Janeiro (RJ), dashing the hopes of the state governments of Minas Gerais and São Paulo, which were in the running to receive this work, the management of General Electric has now signed a protocol document worth R$ 25 million to set up a competence centre in alternative fuels for locomotives at their industrial plant in the city of Contagem, State of Minas Gerais. About 40% of the total investment, or R$ 10 million shall come from the State Government, through the State Secretariat of Science and Technology.

This center shall develop bifuel motors using not only diesel but also biodiesel and natural gas. According to the President of GE Transportation, Guilherme Segalla, this research shall be oriented to the external market. Soon we shall be talking about exports made from this centre, the executive said. The target of these new products shall be the markets in Africa and also Latin America, regions which are served by the Brazilian subsidiary.

According to Mr. Segalla, the new centre did not arise from a long process of maturation. The talks got under way less than a year ago. This Centre could have gone to India or the United States, but we managed to prove that here we would have a larger structural and financial , he said. The executive plans that the centre shall start operating by 2013. The physical structure shall take up 400 square meters within the GE plant in Contagem, and the unit shall be virtually connected with the Federal University at Itajubá in Minas Gerais and also the PUC University in Minas.

According to the executive, there are already some motors developed by GE that accept a mixture of 5% biodiesel in the fuel, and initially they shall strive to achieve 20%. The development of the motor operating on natural gas, an element which is now starting to be exploited in Minas Gerais, near the São Francisco River, is still in the early stages. As a whole, GE should make around US$ 600 million in Latin America this year, and shall double the company’s capacity for production of locomotives with the expansion of the current unit and also the construction of two new production lines up to 2012, in a programmed investment of US$ 50 million.