GE Vernova’s Wind business line saw a 40% decline in organic orders and a 7% decline in organic revenues in Q1 2024 as its customers worked through siting and permitting challenges for new wind projects
The company released its quarterly earnings report a week after New York cited GE Vernova’s pivot away from an 18-MW turbine model as a factor in the cancellation of 4 GW in offshore wind projects. GE Vernova plans to focus on development of its new 15.5/16.5-MW turbine instead, CEO Scott Stravik said on a Thursday earnings webcast.
GE Vernova’s Power and Electrification business lines performed better in the first quarter, with organic revenues increasing by 4% and 21%, respectively, amid strong demand for gas turbines and grid infrastructure, the company said. Companywide organic revenue increased 5%.New York blamed “material modifications” for the cancellation of three offshore wind projects that had received provisional state awards. GE Vernova and LM Wind Power, a rotor blade supplier, also received $300 million in provisional state awards for the projects.
“We just collectively, as a system, couldn't get it across the line on those projects in that auction,” Strazik told Reuters on Thursday. A prototype for the 15.5-MW model, which he said is capable of a “power boost” to 16.5 MW, could debut in late 2025, he added.
On the earnings call, Strazik described the cancellations as an “iteration of the partnership with New York State” and stressed that GE Vernova “[believes] offshore wind is going to play an important role in the energy transition.” But he also noted that “there's a lot of complexity in offshore wind that we're all learning from” and said GE Vernova will add to its wind turbine backlog only if it can secure more favorable terms on future orders.
Might be more than 30% layoff coming