GE is diving head-first into renewables generation.

The energy and infrastructure giant has been busy: GE announced on Monday that it had invested and partnered with the California-based eSolar to provide integrated solar combined cycle (ISCC) technology to its customers worldwide. The announcement followed the news GE was investing last week in a California 800 MW natural gas plant, the CPV Sentinel, intended to be a thermal back-up for renewables as it can ramp its power up and down within minutes, and after announcing its FlexEfficiency 50 Combined Cycle Power Plant just a few weeks ago.

To top it all off, GE announced this morning that it was partnering with eSolar and MetCap Energy Investments to build a utility-scale power plant that would combine the ISCC technology with wind turbines to provide highly efficient hybrid power to Turkish customers. It is set to be fully operation by November 2015.

“I am keenly aware that I operate one of the few businesses in the world that has the size and global strength to solve one of the world’s largest energy problems,” said President and CEO of thermal products for GE Energy, Paul Browning, in a televised announcement from Turkey this morning.

He and the executives from eSolar, MetCap and the contractor for the project, GAMA, were all smiles as they literally unveiled a small model of the new plant set for construction in the city of Karama. The excitement in the room was palpable even through the webcast.

“I think you can all feel the enthusiasm of the folks here on the stage,” said Browning. He said that this type of hybrid project was the future of the industry but that he was hoping to increase the percentage of power from renewables as technology improved.

“When we look at the long-term future of power generation, we see the importance of integrating natural gas and renewable energy sources in new and innovative ways to provide energy that is cleaner, more cost effective and more reliable,” he said.

“I think this is really just the beginning and we’ll be able to take that number [of renewables] higher and higher over time,” he said.

The ISCC technology is integrated with GE’s FlexEfficiency 50 combined cycle turbines to maximize thermal efficiency to 70%, a number that Browning said is beyond their highest expectations for current technology capabilities. In addition, the plant will be controlled with a start/stop button that can ramp it up to full capacity in 28 minutes.

“While we are ramping up we will be able to meet the most stringent environmental standards,” said CEO of MetCap Celal Matin.

eSolar uses thousands of small flat mirrors, called heliostats, to track the sun and reflect its heat onto a water-filled canister on a tower. This water will be heated by the natural gas, creating a fully integrated system with the two forms of heat building on each other. Photovoltaic solar panels, which can be found on rooftops in the United States, cannot easily be integrated into a hybrid system.

For capturing wind energy, GE has built its own wind turbine, which Browning claims is also the world’s most efficient.

Matin said that he has been dreaming of such a project since 2008, when he initially drew a sketch of such a wind-solar-gas plant.

“I am proud to be here,” he said. “I thought at the beginning it was going to be a dream. The dream is now becoming a reality, and on behalf of myself and my colleagues at GE, eSolar and GAMA, I woud like to invite you to the start up in 2015.”

Picture: A gas turbine in the GE manufacturing center in Greenville, South Carolina.