GE Vernova Inc. outlined a capital investment program for U.S. manufacturing and development operations totaling close to $600 million through 2027. It projected the investments would address issues involving energy affordability, national security, and manufacturing growth, and would prompt the creation of more than 1,500 new jobs.
“These investments represent our serious commitment and responsibility as the leading energy manufacturer in the United States to help meet America’s and the world’s accelerating energy demand,” stated CEO Scott Strazik. “These strategic investments and the jobs they create aim to both help our customers meet the doubling of demand and accelerate American innovation and technology development to boost the country’s energy security and global competitiveness.”
GE Vernova, which is the former General Electric portfolio of businesses that manufacture industrial and alternative energy systems, pegged the new U.S. investments as part of its broader, $9-billion global capital investment and research program.
Among the planned U.S. investments are expansion projects at plants in Greenville, S.C. ($160 million), and Schenectady, N.Y. ($50 million), in order manufacture up to 80 heavy-duty gas turbines annually.
One of the largest investments will be a nearly $100-million program to improve the electrification and carbon research programs underway at the GE Vernova Advanced Research Center in Niskayuna, N.Y. That program also covers talent recruitment and research into direct air capture technologies, alternative fuels for power generation, “the grid of the future,” and critical infrastructure security.
GE Vernova also plans to invest close to $50 million at plants in Parsippany, N.J., and Bangor, Me., to increase capacity, improve product quality, and enhance delivery efforts.
GE also will invest nearly $20 million to expand its Grid Solutions plants in Charleroi, Penn., which manufactures switchgear, and Clearwater, Fla., to produce switchgears, capacitors and instrument transformers. The investment is expected to result in a total of more than 260 new jobs at the two facilities. The investments are critical to meet rising demand for critical high-voltage grid equipment. The majority of the investment is planned for the installation of new assets to create additional capacity and improve productivity.
In addition, the company’s Wind segment will invest nearly $100 million in manufacturing plants for onshore wind turbines in Pensacola, Fla., Schenectady, and Grand Forks, N.D., and its remanufacturing facilities in Amarillo, Tex.
The GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy joint venture will invest over $50 million to expand automation at its Wilmington, N.C., plant, where it expects to launch manufacturing for its new BWRX-300 small modular reactor system.
Last, the U.S. investments will include a more than $10-million program at a Pittsburgh plant, including planned funding for a new manufacturing line for the Flexinverter technology, for utility-scale solar and energy storage applications.
