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Iraq can’t pay for massive GE contract
August 3, 2009 at 10:56 am by Larry Rulison

Reuters is reporting that the government of Iraq can’t pay for a $3 billion contract it has with General Electric Co. to provide the war-torn country with 65 gas turbines, enough to provide the country with 7,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity.

GE Energy, which has its power generating unit headquartered here in Schenectady, made a huge deal of the contract back in December, saying it was the largest in GE history.

Steve Bolze, president of water and power for GE Energy, told the Times Union at the time that the equipment would be delivered over the next two years. GE makes its gas turbines in South Carolina and France.

Reuters said that the Iraqi parliament could not agree to issue bonds to raise money for the project.

A GE Energy spokesman, who was provided a copy of the Reuters story, did not immediately have a comment on the development in Iraq.