But during the same quarter, GE shipped 726 wind turbines, more than double the number that it shipped from April to June of 2011.
The news came in the second-quarter earnings report of GE, the US’s largest wind turbine manufacturer.
GE blamed the drop in wind-turbine sales on uncertainty over the extension of the Production Tax Credit (PTC) , due to expire on 31 December.
For all manufacturers of wind turbines, US sales have been dropping while deliveries have been high as developers rush to complete projects by year-end.
Indeed, in an earnings conference call on July 20, vice chairman and CFO Keith Sherin said: "In the second half [of 2012] we are going to deliver close to 1800 to 2000 wind units, almost all of the full amount of volume we had for all last year."
In response to PTC uncertainty, manufacturers have been diversifying geographically and ramping up sales outside America.
GE’s CEO, Jeff Immelt, told the conference call: "We have got some big [wind turbine] orders in places like Brazil and Canada and Australia, Turkey, places like that.
"We haven’t over-invested. We have got a very flexible supply chain. So I think we are just going to kind of ride the wave."
GE turbine sales fall 37% in Q2 2012
UNITED STATES: General Electric (GE) sold 37% fewer wind turbines in the second quarter of 2012 compared with the same quarter in 2011.
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