GE Europe has recently received EEA-Grants of €2 million for the undertaking of hydropower projects in Turkey and Norway. The latest news is that the company's GE Renewable Energy division has been provided with these funds by the Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology.

The EEA (European Economic Area) Grants will be used to finance the equipment research and development activities on the hydropower projects in Tepekisla in Turkey and Iveland in Norway.

The Spanish firms of GE Europe have received the grants since they are the organizations that handle the R&D and engineering for turbines and generators.

"We are grateful for the contribution of the EEA-Grants program that helped us to deliver two major European projects, Iveland and Tepkisla, and to develop R&D with the hydro fields," Yves Rannous said. He is the CEO of GE Renewable Energy Hydro company.

The goal of EEA-Grants is to bring down social and economic inequalities in the European Economic Area. It also aims to make bilateral relations between donor states like Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein stronger and the other 16 Member States of the European Union that are qualified for this financial help.

The contract for equipment for the two projects was originally granted to Alstom. This company was supposed to provide two 35 MW horizontal Kaplan turbines, generators, inlet valves and a 50 MW turbine and related equipment for Iveland and 4 MW Francis turbine for Tepekisla.

However, the latest news is that GE Renewable Energy took over the supply contracts. This happened when GE Europe finalized its acquisition of Alstom in November 2015.

A French multinational company, Alstom is active in the field of transportation and serves the global rail transport market. Materials for the Iveland and Tepekisla projects will be made at its former factories in Cornella and Galindo, both located in Spain.