GE Vernova reports record 116 GW order backlog for gas turbines, up 69% YoY, driven by electrification demand
GE Vernova posted double-digit revenue and order growth in the second quarter, driven by continued strong performance in its Power and Electrification segments. The Power segment produces and services gas, hydro, and nuclear power generation equipment, while Electrification manufactures commercial electrical equipment such as transformers and switchgears. The company's Wind segment, however, saw orders fall sharply amid persistent weakness in U.S. demand for onshore wind turbines and blades.
CEO Scott Strazik said GE Vernova expects its combined backlog of gas turbine orders and slot reservations to reach 125 GW by year-end. In the second quarter, the company shipped 3 GW of turbines and signed 20 GW of orders and slot reservations, with more than half designated for HA-class turbines that customers typically operate at higher capacity factors. Strazik noted that the customer base spans approximately 100 entities across 26 countries, with roughly 80% traditional customers like utilities and 20% data center operators.
Like Siemens and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, GE Vernova books reservations four to five years in advance. The company is currently taking reservations for 2031 deliveries and expects to be "more than halfway contracted for 2031 by the end of the year," Strazik said. However, he added that the company needs more time before articulating the timing for 2032 bookings, despite "healthy discussions" with customers about potential future commitments.
Strazik alluded multiple times to "strong" pricing for GE Vernova's gas power equipment. According to an analysis by Moses Sutton, senior analyst with BNP Paribas Equity Research, estimated second-quarter pricing reached approximately $790/kW for heavy-duty turbines, $950/kW for HA-class combined-cycle turbines, and $1,800/kW for aeroderivative turbines. Sutton characterized the 125-GW year-end backlog guidance as conservative "given management's track record of under-guiding and over-delivering." In December, Strazik had projected an 80-GW gas turbine backlog for year-end 2025; the actual figure was 83 GW. For 2026, market expectations point to a year-end backlog of 130 GW to 140 GW.
Regarding GE Vernova's plan to expand annual turbine manufacturing capacity from 20 GW to 30 GW by 2030, Sutton said "the jury's out," noting that Strazik's cautious stance on 2032 contracting may signal "peak momentum emerging" in the company's gas growth story.
Strazik expressed enthusiasm about the Electrification segment's prospects amid what he called "this electricity investment supercycle." The segment's backlog has climbed above $40 billion, bolstered by the completion of GE Vernova's acquisition of the remaining stake in GE Prolec, formerly a joint venture with Xignux, a Mexican industrial conglomerate. The merger contributed to approximately $800 million in U.S. transformer orders this quarter. Strazik attributed demand drivers to broad-based load growth, utilities' and data center customers' heightened awareness of grid-stabilizing equipment needs, and national security imperatives.
Jefferies equities analyst Julien Dumoulin-Smith noted that GE Vernova's development of solid-state transformers and uninterruptible medium-voltage transformers positions the company to benefit from anticipated data center demand for these advanced electrical components. However, Dumoulin-Smith cited community opposition and labor shortages as significant dampeners of data center-related load growth that "place the integrity of the power supercycle into question." Jefferies's base case remains that data center power demand accelerates in coming years, "but not without hiccups."
On the Wind segment, Strazik said the Trump administration's forthcoming guidance on Section 232 tariffs could provide more "order clarity" in the second half of 2026. Tariff-related uncertainty is currently impacting onshore wind development. Independent energy analysts are cautiously optimistic about sectoral recovery. Wood Mackenzie raised its five-year outlook for U.S. greenfield wind development by 5% this month as developers capitalized on expiring federal tax credits and corporate demand for clean energy surged. "Large technology companies are turning to wind power as an additional energy source to meet their growing needs," Wood Mackenzie said on July 20.
Both Wood Mackenzie and Strazik highlighted a coming repowering cycle—owners replacing older wind farm turbines with more powerful units—as supporting demand through the 2030s. Strazik noted that GE Vernova's U.S. install base includes approximately 10 GW of units with repowering potential, projects that have already qualified for new production tax credits.
Regarding the ongoing dispute with Vineyard Wind, the 800-MW offshore project off the Massachusetts coast, GE Renewables had threatened to exit after Vineyard Wind withheld hundreds of millions in payments for what it termed "catastrophic injury" from a 2024 blade break. Vineyard Wind subsequently sued GE Vernova in April to block withdrawal from its supply agreement. In a regulatory filing this week, GE Vernova stated it had "successfully completed the installation of all remaining wind turbines at the Vineyard Wind project" and entered the commissioning phase. "As we work through the final stages of the project, we are working with our customer to resolve outstanding claims and counterclaims," the filing said.