Common Questions

How long is the wait for a GE Vernova gas turbine?

As of December 2025, GE Vernova's gas turbine backlog stood at 80 GW with deliveries booked into 2029. New orders placed in early 2026 could face waits of three years or more.Source: Lowdown data-centres briefing

Why are gas turbine orders surging in 2025 and 2026?

Data centres and AI facilities are ordering gas turbines to power behind-the-meter generation, bypassing grid-connection queues. xAI's 41-turbine order for Colossus is the most prominent example; GE Vernova says hyperscalers are its fastest-growing customer segment.Source: Lowdown data-centres briefing

What did GE Vernova spin off from?

GE Vernova was spun off from General Electric in April 2024 as an independent energy technology company focused on gas turbines, wind turbines, and grid equipment.Source: GE Vernova

Background

GE Vernova was spun off from General Electric in April 2024 as an independent energy technology company. Its gas turbine division is now the clearest single indicator of AI infrastructure demand's physical scale: the backlog reached 80 GW in December 2025, with deliveries booked into 2029 and beyond. By Q1 2026 its total backlog had grown to $163 billion, up $13 billion in a single quarter, driven by power-generation and grid equipment orders. At that backlog level, a new order placed in early 2026 would wait three or more years for hardware delivery.

The driver is explicit: data centres and AI facilities requiring behind-the-meter generation are the fastest-growing customer segment. xAI's 41-turbine, 1.2 GW Colossus order is the most prominent individual example. However, the DOE Section 202(c) emergency curtailment order of 18 May 2026, which granted PJM authority to shut down data centres running on BTM backup generation during a heat event, directly recontextualises GE Vernova's BTM gas pipeline. Facilities powered by GE Vernova turbines inside PJM's footprint are now curtailment targets in emergencies, adding regulatory risk to a segment that had previously been presented as a near-unlimited growth market.

On 22 June 2026, Chevron's Energy Forge One signed a 20-year Power Purchase Agreement with Microsoft to build a 2.67 GW co-located gas plant in West Texas, branded Project Kilby, using GE Vernova turbines from the same backlog already booked into 2029 at approximately $7bn capex, with first power delivery expected in 2028. At 2.67 GW it is the largest dedicated-generation deal struck for a data centre in 2026. Project Kilby is sited in ERCOT territory, outside FERC curtailment authority, signalling that operators are increasingly routing BTM gas builds to jurisdictions beyond the federal reach that twice curtailed PJM-territory data centres in 2026. GE Vernova's turbine portfolio spans heavy-duty and aeroderivative gas turbines; the company also manufactures wind turbines and grid equipment, though current order flow is dominated by gas.