GE Vernova Inc.,[2] formerly GE Power and GE Renewable Energy, is an energy equipment manufacturing and services company headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts.[3]
GE Power was founded as GE Energy, and was a division of General Electric. GE Energy was headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.[4] GE Energy was founded in 2008, as part of a company-wide reorganization prompted by financial losses lead to the formation from GE Infrastructure division.[5]
In 2012, General Electric's GE Power division was created following the spin-off of GE Energy.[6]
Acquisition of Alstom's energy business
Between April and June 2014, General Electric entered into negotiations to acquire the energy business of the French group Alstom. On April 24, 2014, the first information was published about General Electric's partial takeover of Alstom for $13 billion.[7] On April 30, Alstom's board of directors accepted General Electric's €12.35 billion offer, for its energy business.[8] General Electric confirmed its offer of $16.9 billion.[9]
In 2015, the Franco-American subsidiary GE Renewable Energy was created from the acquisition of the energy activities (Alstom Power and Alstom Grid) of Alstom, which specializes in renewable energies. It was headquartered in Boulogne-Billancourt, France and focused on the production of energy systems that use renewable sources. Its products included wind (onshore and offshore), hydroelectric and solar (concentrated and photovoltaic) power generating facilities.[10]
In January 2016, General Electric announced that it was cutting 6,500 jobs in its energy division, GE Power.[11] In October 2016, General Electric announced the acquisition of LM Wind Power, a Danish company that is one of its main suppliers of wind turbine blades, for $1.65 billion.[12]
In May 2018, Alstom announced the sale of its interests in its three joint ventures with General Electric to GE for €2.594 billion. These joint ventures were active in the power grid, nuclear and renewable energy sectors.[13]
In July 2018, one month after buying all the shares in its joint venture with Alstom, General Electric announced a restructuring plan for the Hydro division, cutting 1,330 jobs worldwide, including 293 jobs in Grenoble, France even though GE had committed to creating 1,000 jobs in France when it bought Alstom's energy division.[14][15]
On April 18, 2021, GE Steam Power's management announced that it was reducing its job cuts plan, deciding to save 94 jobs and thus cut 144.[16] On April 30, 2021, the unions in France announced that they would continue to blockade the steam power site in Belfort "for as long as necessary", also blocking the special convoy transporting a turbine to the Hinkley Point nuclear power plant in the UK.[17]
Spin-off
On November 9, 2021, General Electric announced that it would split into three publicly traded companies. The following year, they announced the names would be GE HealthCare, GE Aerospace, and GE Vernova.[18] GE Healthcare was the first to be spun off, on January 4, 2023.[19] GE Vernova was the second to be spun off. In preparation for the spin-off, GE Vernova, LLC was founded on February 28, 2023.[20] The LLC was incorporated on April 2, 2024,[21] as GE Vernova Inc. and was listed on the New York Stock Exchange under ticker symbol GEV.[22] After the completion of the two spin-offs, General Electric rebranded itself GE Aerospace.[23][24]
Sale of almost all its nuclear activities
In January 2022, France's EDF and General Electric agreed on a takeover of a major part of GE Steam Power (formerly Alstom Power), GE Power's nuclear activities. EDF will pay around €175 million for this transaction, once the cash and debt of the acquired business have been taken into account. This former Alstom Power business, valued at one billion euros, specialises in nuclear turbine-generator sets, in particular "Arabelle", and the maintenance services associated with the reactors deployed. The Arabelle nuclear turbine at Belfort, France is the most powerful in the world.[25] It sold this subsidiary to EDF in May 2024.[26]
Structure
As of April 2, 2024, GE Vernova is organised into four divisions based in the United States, France and Denmark:
