GE Vernova Reports its HA Gas Turbine Fleet Reaches 3 Million Operating Hours

As GE Vernova announced a milestone of 3 million hours of operation for its HA fleet, Eric Gray, President & CEO, GE Vernova’s Gas Power business, said it is thanks to strong collaborations with its customers that helped the company meet electrification and decarbonization goals. “As more HA turbines come online, these milestones will only accelerate while driving significant services for GE Vernova for decades to come and bringing greater reliability and operating performance for our customers,” Gray said.

Its HA gas turbine fleet comprises 116 7HA and 9HA models installed globally. Ty Remington, Gas Power Sales Executive at GE Vernova, said the first HA units were delivered to France, Japan, and the United States, beginning the product line’s 10-year rollout. Since the first HA unit launched in commercial operations in 2016, the HA fleet has generated more than 67 GW of power. This operating hour achievement is equivalent to one HA turbine running for 342 years.

Image credit: GE Vernova

The Road to Now

From 2010 - 2012, GE Vernova noticed an emerging trend causing power grid disruptions: the retirement of aging coal plants in the United States and Europe, primarily due to increasingly high maintenance costs. These plants were replaced by solar energy and wind turbines, which operated successfully onshore but struggled in poor weather conditions, demanding a replacement for lost capacity.

It was at this juncture “that the company started to see the need for a more efficient gas turbine,” said Remington. “And so, we launched the HA gas turbine product line and began our journey.”

Considerable changes to European and U.S. power grids powered the HA line’s ascent:

United States: According to the Energy Information Administration, in 2014 coal delivered 1,580 TWh of power, with wind and solar combining for 210 TWh. In 2024, coal had fallen to 650 TWh and combined wind and solar had increased to 740 TWh.

Europe: According to the Energy Institute Statistical Review, coal power fell from 1,017 TWh to 530 TWh between 2014 and 2023, and combined wind and solar rose from 363 TWh to 909 TWh.

Modern Demand Drives Growth

In the modern day, the rapid growth of AI computational demand and electrification has forced the International Energy Agency (IEA) to continuously to raise its growth forecasts for global power. In its latest February 2025 report, the IEA recorded 4.3% global growth in 2024 and projected 4% growth for 2025 and 2026. According to Scott Strazik, CEO of GE Vernova, “The IEA recently said the world will need to build as much capacity in the next five years as the United States and Europe did in the last 136 years.”

These growth trends may allow the HA gas turbine fleet to achieve 10 million hours of cumulative runtime in the future, according to Remington. The forecasted demand is met by GE Vernova’s large-scale HA output at its Greenville, SC, facility, attempting to accelerate the typical 18-to-24-month contract-to-delivery cycle; however, the order book is simply lengthening this timeline. “The power industry has accelerated incredibly fast, just in the past year and a half,” Remington said.

What’s Next?

Not only will the raw power demand drive HA growth, but it’s range of capabilities make it a suitable option to satisfy electrification, claimed Remington. For example, at the new Net-Zero Teesside Power station in the United Kingdom, GE Vernova will supply a 9HA.02 turbine to be customized with a carbon-capture system. Operators may struggle with grid connections as data centers grow, so they can choose HA turbines to generate power in a behind-the-meter configuration.