GE Vernova, Inc.

As of May 2024, GE Vernova claimed to have planned the installation of roughly 674 wind turbines on the SunZia Project wind farm in Corona, New Mexico. ⁴ In January 2024, a lawsuit was filed to cancel a $10 billion energy-transmission line that would be used to transmit energy generated from the project to other states. ⁵ The lawsuit was initially filed by two Native American tribes and a pair of nonprofits that claimed several environments with cultural significance would be damaged by the construction. ⁵ In April 2024, a federal judge rejected the lawsuit. ⁶

Background

In 2022, manufacturing conglomerate General Electric (GE) bought the bankrupt energy-trading firm Enron for $250 million. ⁷

Initially acting as an internal division, in April 2024, GE announced that the hydraulic energy turbine-manufacturing branch created by the purchase would become its own separate corporate entity called GE Vernova. Earlier in 2021, GE. ³ In 2021, General Electric claimed its wind and hydro division had employed 38,000 people. By 2024, it claimed to have manufactured, sold, or serviced about 55,000 onshore wind turbines. ⁸ GE Vernova employed 80,000 people in 10 countries as of April 2024. GE claimed that by this point GE Vernova had allegedly generated about 30% of the world’s electricity. ³

Since splitting from the conglomerate in April 2024, GE Vernova has reported a loss of roughly $106 million in its first quarterly earnings, claiming that orders for its wind segment fell 40% due to lower demand. ⁹

Finances

When GE Vernova was initially a division of General Electric (GE), it had reportedly produced $12.97 billion in revenues in fiscal year 2022 and $15.05 billion in revenues in fiscal year 2023. In that same period of time,  the division reportedly announced $2.24 billion in losses in fiscal year 2022 and $1.44 billion in losses in fiscal year 2023. ¹

General Electric last reported making a profit in wind and hydroelectric energy in fiscal year 2018, when it reported $287 million in profits. ¹⁰ During the next three fiscal years, GE reported losses in these sectors of $666 million (FY 2019), ¹⁰ $715 million (FY 2020) ¹¹ and $795 million (FY 2021). ⁸

Activities

SunZia Project

GE Vernova’s SunZia wind-farm project in Corona, New Mexico, scheduled to be completed in 2026, is a hydro-electric turbine project claiming to have about 674 wind turbines that will allegedly provide enough power for 3 million people in the region. ^{4 12} Several have claimed it to be the largest U.S. electricity infrastructure project since the construction of the Hoover Dam. ¹³

In January 2024, a group of Native American Tribes and environmental nonprofits filed a lawsuit regarding the construction. These included the Tohono O’odham Nation, the San Carlos Apache Tribe, and nonprofit organizations Center for Biological Diversity and Archaeology Southwest. The suit demanded that GE Vernova halt work on a $10 billion energy-transmission line that would carry energy created at the SunZia Project to other states. The lawsuit asked for permanent injunctions to halt construction of the transmission line, claiming the San Pedro Valley would be permanently damaged by the project, while accusing the U.S. Interior Department and Bureau of Land Management of not recognizing the cultural significance of the San Pedro Valley to Native American tribes. The transmission line was previously approved in 2015 to carry electricity generated via wind energy from New Mexico through Arizona to California. ⁵

On April 17, 2024, federal judge Jennifer Zipps rejected the lawsuit, claiming the plaintiffs filed their complaint too late. The judge also ruled that the Interior Department and Bureau of Land Management did fulfil their obligations to identify the historic sites and create a list of cultural resources. ⁶

New York State Turbine Cancellations

In April 2024, GE Vernova announced it was cancelling the construction of an 18-megawatt turbine, which was considered by experts to become one of the largest wind turbine structures ever built. In addition, three smaller wind turbine projects were cancelled in New York State following GE Vernova’s decision. Local outlet E&E News claimed that the projects cancelled would have been key towards the state’s goal of generating “…70 percent of its power with renewable energy by the end of the decade.” ¹⁴

Following the decision, GE Vernova CEO Scott Strazik announced later that month that the company would not take up new offshore wind-turbine projects unless economic terms were “materially different” but would not continue “without better terms.”  ¹⁵

Controversy/Turbine Malfunctions

Spring Canyon II, Colorado

In January 2024, a General Electric (GE) 1.7-100 wind turbine in Logan County, Colorado collapsed, causing the unit’s Spring Canyon II wind farm to catch fire and lead to the surrounding area contaminated by oil and grease. The turbine had been placed online in 2014. ¹⁶

Alfstedt-Ebersdorf, Germany

In October 2023, the rotor blade of a GE turbine, based within the German-based Alfstedt-Ebersdorf wind farm in Lower Saxony, snapped off with the debris causing damage to the surrounding area. The local company overseeing the wind farm EnergieKontor shut down all operations at the facility as a result. ¹⁷ During the cleaning of debris, another turbine from the same group snapped off as well. ¹⁸

Similar incidents had reportedly occurred at the same windfarm a year earlier in In September 2022. ¹⁹

Bjorkvattnet, Sweden

According to news outlet RENews Biz, multiple GE wind turbine breakages occurred in the Sweeden-based Bjorkvattnet wind farm between 2021 and 2022, with multiple turbine failures being reported but with no injuries. ^{20 21}

Akmene, Lithuania

In March 2023, a GE Vernova turbine at the Akmene wind farm in Lithuania, which housed roughly 14 turbines built by Vernova, collapsed due to a malfunctioning sensor causing it to collapse but with no injuries reported. ²²

West Union, New York

In March 2023, a wind turbine built by GE Vernova based on a wind farm in West Union, New York caught fire. The turbine was non-operational, and no injuries were reported at the site. However, debris from the turbine containing fiberglass materials had been blown over a mile away from the wind farm, causing residents that came in contact to develop slight skin irritations. ²³ A local townhall meeting several weeks following the incident had residents complain of fiberglass and other materials being found in the local environment including yards, trees, and nearby ponds. ²⁴

Butler Ridge Wind Farm, Wisconsin

In January 2023, a 400-foot GE Vernova turbine collapsed at the Butler Ridge Wind Farm in Dodge County, Wisconsin. No injuries were reported, but the impact crater had been reportedly still present nearly two months following the incident.  ²⁵

Traverse Wind Energy Center, Oklahoma

In October 2022, a GE wind turbine was damaged from a thunderstorm that impact the Traverse Wind Energy Center in Oklahoma in August 2022. According to the New York Post, one of the wind turbines on fire when emergency personnel arrived. ²⁶

Legal Action

Siemens Gamesa Patent Litigation

In 2020, energy production group Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy filed a lawsuit against General Electric (GE) alleging patent infringement over GE’s Haliade-X wind turbines. ²⁷

In February 2023, a U.S district judge in Boston ruled that GE would be required to double royalty payments to Siemens to $60,000 for each megawatt generated by a wind energy project built off the coast of New Jersey using the patented Haliade-X wind turbines. ²⁸

In March 2023, GE settled the lawsuit with Siemens Gamesa for an undisclosed amount, with both companies and subsidiaries receiving a cross license for all disputed patents listed under the agreement. ²⁹

Lawsuit Against Global Fiberglass

In September 2023, GE filed a lawsuit against Texas company Global Fiberglass Solutions, alleging that it paid the company $17 million to recycle unusable wind turbine blades for use in other products. Instead, GE claimed that Global Fiberglass Solutions had stockpiled the GE wind turbine blades provided in several locations without plans to recycle them. ^{30 31}