GE Vernova Adds to Pennsylvania Switchgear Plant Plans
GE Vernova Inc. will invest roughly $75 million in a Pennsylvania plant that makes switchgear products and which earlier this year was earmarked for about $10 million in growth investments.
The additional investment in GE Vernova’s Grid Solutions factory in Charleroi, south of Pittsburgh, calls for the hiring of 250 workers over the next two years. Those people will join another 180 people GE Vernova officials have been hiring as part of the $10 million growth project announced in January. That investment was itself part of a multi-year, $600 million spending plan to grow the company’s capacity across its various power, wind and electrification divisions.
“We are investing in Charleroi and our advanced grid technology because it complements the investments we’ve made in power generation,” CEO Scott Strazik said in a statement. “For the U.S. to lead in energy, manufacturing critical domestic grid infrastructure is just as important as generation.”
This second round of expansion in Charleroi lifts to $100 million the investments GE Vernova is making across Pennsylvania this year and next. Combined, those projects—which include growing its utility-scale solar equipment operation in Pittsburgh and upgrading a gas power plant in Allentown—will create 700 jobs.
Shares of GE Vernova (Ticker: GEV) were changing hands around $558 in midday trading July 16. Over the past six months, they have climbed more than 40%, a surge that has grown that pushed the company’s market capitalization past $150 billion.
About the Author
Geert De Lombaerde
Senior Editor
A native of Belgium, Geert De Lombaerde has more than two decades of business journalism experience and writes about markets and economic trends for Endeavor Business Media publications T&D World, Healthcare Innovation, IndustryWeek, FleetOwner and Oil & Gas Journal. With a degree in journalism from the University of Missouri, he began his reporting career at the Business Courier in Cincinnati and later was managing editor and editor of the Nashville Business Journal. Most recently, he oversaw the online and print products of the Nashville Post and reported primarily on Middle Tennessee’s finance sector as well as many of its publicly traded companies.