Powering the region with GE Vernova

GE Vernova may have been spun off from General Electric (GE) just last year, but the global energy business has more than five decades of heritage in Singapore under its belt.

Today, the Republic is home to 700 employees and houses a country office with regional operations that’s crucial to fuelling the ongoing energy revolution in the region and around the world.

As more vehicles are electrified and more data centres are built, Asia’s power demand is on the rise. Increasingly, governments and businesses are also asking for clean power. GE Vernova is poised to support those demands from here, while also growing in tandem with Singapore’s needs.

“Singapore, as a hub for logistics, technology, and talent, is going to be a very important player in GE Vernova’s Asian growth story,” Ramesh Singaram, president and CEO of GE Vernova’s gas power business in Asia-Pacific, tells The Business Times.

High-tech home base

Today, all of GE Vernova’s business segments – covering power, wind, and electrification – can be found in Singapore. Indeed, the business, which was formed last year out of GE’s energy arm, has built up a major footprint here over the years.

“If you look at the evolution of our energy operations, they have closely mirrored the growth of Singapore as a technology hub – a place where talent and excellence combine to offer a high standard of services for customers within the region,” Ramesh says.

GE opened its first manufacturing plant in Jurong in 1969. It began offering marine and offshore repairs at a service centre in 1970 and opened a gas turbine repair facility in 1975.

More recently, GE Vernova unveiled a US$60 million (S$81.4 million) investment in a repair and service centre in 2019.

Built in the 1970s as a shipyard for tugboats and drill ships, the 36,000 sq m (387,500 sq ft) facility in Pioneer is now dedicated to the maintenance of high-efficiency air-cooled (HA) gas turbines.

The centre’s launch was followed by an additional US$20 million investment early this year, supported by the Economic Development Board (EDB), to introduce next-generation repair capabilities and technologies for HA gas turbines.

Cindy Koh, EDB’s executive vice-president, noted at the time that GE Vernova’s investment “reflects the capabilities of (Singapore’s) advanced manufacturing ecosystem in supporting companies in new product introduction and manufacturing process development”.

High-tech operations at this facility already include the use of robotics to spray-coat and polish gas turbine parts, and plans are under way to incorporate artificial intelligence on the shop floor.

Such innovations are being rolled out across the entire business, and are helping GE Vernova keep pace with the growing demands for its products and services.

GE Vernova technology already supports close to half of Singapore’s installed power generation capacity – excluding industrial applications – and roughly a quarter of the country’s grid transformer monitoring network.

Meanwhile, Singapore’s electricity demand is pegged to cross 10,600 megawatts (MW) in 2030. This is up from 7,300 MW a decade prior, according to the Energy Market Authority.

“This is partly driven by economic growth; but it is also being driven by the electrification of vehicles, the digitalisation of work processes and the adoption of AI,” says Ramesh.

GE Vernova thus expects to play a critical role in upgrading Singapore’s grid as the nation’s energy needs change and grow.

In 2016, it collaborated with Singapore Power on the installation of a digital substation to prepare the grid for the adoption of renewable energy sources. The initiative, supported by the Economic Development Board, was part of an effort to drive research and development of next-generation energy network technologies.

In October 2024, GE Vernova also announced that it is part of a consortium that will build a hydrogen-capable power plant in Pulau Seraya Power Station on Jurong Island, which could add as much as 600 MW of electricity to the national grid by 2027.

In a first for GE Vernova in Singapore, the plant will have a turbine that can run on a hydrogen-natural gas blend, and will be able to eventually run fully on hydrogen if needed.

“Our mission at GE Vernova is to continue to electrify the world while simultaneously working to help decarbonise it,” says Ramesh.

“As an energy company with a wide range of products and services on offer and under development – including hydrogen and carbon capture technologies – we are confident of supporting Singapore’s needs for energy security and decarbonisation.”

Global gateway

The growing demand for cleaner energy seen in Singapore is visible around the region too, Ramesh says, noting “significant opportunities coming from the build-out of the ASEAN power grid”.

Infrastructure upgrades will be needed to ramp up a regional energy network, and GE Vernova is seeing momentum building in support of this.

GE Vernova Consulting Services has worked with the ASEAN Centre for Energy to examine how more grid interconnections in South-east Asia could boost the regional take-up and the reliability of renewable energy sources – especially solar and wind.

“ASEAN’s member nations have united behind a desire to achieve collective energy security through the construction and connection of a modern grid supplying energy throughout the region,” Ramesh says.

“We are encouraged by this endeavour and the opportunities that an integrated grid will present.”

Looking beyond ASEAN, Ramesh sees Asia’s economic growth story supporting the same needs for clean energy. “The ways in which countries respond to this need will vary quite a bit depending on resource availability, policy, infrastructure and emission targets. When it comes to energy, one size definitely does not fit all,” he says.

As countries work to balance energy security, affordability and environmental sustainability, the mix of renewable energy and other fuel sources – including lower- or zero-carbon options such as gas and hydrogen – will vary market to market.

Whatever the needs, GE Vernova will be ready to support the demand. Asia made up 13.4 per cent of the company’s revenue, according to its 2024 annual report, and one-third of the company’s HA turbines are installed in, or designated for, Asian sites.

Ramesh expects the Singapore operations “to play a major role in meeting the energy needs” of the region, with regional connectivity and local engineering talent as key factors in Singapore’s attractiveness as a base for Asian operations.

Pointing to the HA turbine service centre as an example, Ramesh says, “Singapore’s favourable location within Asia makes it an optimum site to which many of our Asian customers can ship turbines or other components for repair.”

The pool of universities here has made it possible to “attract top-tier engineering talent, which is very important for us”.

Meanwhile, support from local bodies such as the EDB have been “instrumental in helping us build our presence here over the years”.

Partners for a greener future

GE Vernova has been part of Singapore’s industrialisation story almost from the beginning – and this is a relationship that looks set to continue in the decades ahead.

“Various new technologies we are working on have the potential to boost Singapore’s energy security while allowing it to meet its net zero ambitions,” Ramesh notes.

For instance, the company won a contract in 2024 to supply the electric propulsion equipment for six Republic of Singapore Navy ships – which will be the first such vessels in Singapore’s fleet. This will enable the navy to adopt an electric ship configuration that has increased levels of power and energy-efficiency, strengthening its energy reliability and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Singapore’s commitment to pragmatic decarbonisation is reflective of sentiment across much of South-east Asia and Asia, Ramesh notes, and is very much aligned with GE Vernova’s way of thinking.

“We believe in an all-of-the-above strategy, embracing the right means to decarbonise, and we have seen our philosophy resonate with both public and private sector players in this part of the world.”

Even amid economic and geopolitical uncertainties, GE Vernova affirms its continued commitment to strong supplier relationships and resilient supply chains rooted in each local geography.

“We will continue to be a strong collaborator for utilities and businesses in this region, and support both energy security and decarbonisation,” Ramesh says.

“As Asia’s population and power demands continue to grow, we intend to continue to invest and grow our capabilities here.”

‘If you look at the evolution of our energy operations, they have closely mirrored the growth of Singapore as a technology hub – a place where talent and excellence combine to offer a high standard of services for customers within the region.’
 

Source: The Business Times ©️ SPH Media Limited. Permission required for reproduction.