The first 1.5MW machine was installed in 1996 in Germany. In 2002, GE gained ownership of the technology as part of its acquisition of Enron’s wind business. Since then, GE has increased its wind engineering team three-fold and has applied experience from other business units such as GE Aviation, GE Transportation, GE Oil & Gas, GE Plastics and GE Global Research. Much of the surge in 1.5MW orders has occurred in the United States, where the wind industry received a major boost with the extension of the federal production tax credit at the end of 2005. GE expects to ship more than 5,000 1.5MW machines globally in 2006 and 2007, and anticipates that the total of 1.5MW wind turbines operating worldwide could reach 10,000 by the end of 2008.