Today, GE (NYSE:GE) announces continued interest in its HA gas turbines, with a total of 16 HA orders, up from 15 orders at the end of 2014. HA technology selections* also increased from 45 at the end of 2014 to 53 today. The number of countries making HA selections has grown from nine to 11 and includes: U.S., Japan, UK, Brazil, South Korea, France, Russia, Germany, Turkey, Argentina and Egypt.

Concurrently, after three months of comprehensive validation testing at the GE test stand in Greenville, S.C., USA, the 9HA.01 gas turbine performed even better than expected. The final thermal mapping test was successfully completed on March 31, 2015.

“The off-grid capabilities in the Greenville facility allowed us to push the 9HA.01 beyond real-world conditions,” said Vic Abate, president and CEO, power generation products at GE Power and Water. “Our customers are motivated by the machine’s performance. The HA technology has proven that it is ready to meet the growing global need for cleaner, more efficient, larger blocks of power.”

The 9HA.01 gas turbine is the air-cooled evolution of GE’s H-class steam-cooled gas turbines, combining the robust experience, reliability, flexibility and availability of the F-class fleet with GE’s proven H-class technology. These turbines provide a combination of the most output, highest efficiency and best operational flexibility and lead the industry in total life cycle value. The 9HA.01 gas turbine offers a net combined-cycle efficiency of more than 61 percent and leads the industry with reliable and cost-effective conversion of fuel to electricity compared with F-class technology.

Abate said one unit in the Greenville test stand for 200 hours delivers more valuable information than 500 units in the field for a year. Three months of testing at the full-speed, full-load facility collected more than 5 terabytes of data, using some 5,000 sensors and instruments and capturing more than 8,000 data streams.

“Simply put, the HA technology is transforming the industry,” said Abate. “GE is investing $2 billion in this high-efficiency technology and customers worldwide are realizing that our investment can pay off for them and the people they serve by delivering more cost-effective power.”

*A technical selection is one of the first steps in developing a new power plant. It means that if the power plant is constructed and commissioned, it will use GE gas turbines. Following technical selection, a developer will proceed with securing financing, permitting and more.

About GE

GE (NYSE:GE) imagines things others don’t, builds things others can’t and delivers outcomes that make the world work better. GE brings together the physical and digital worlds in ways no other company can. In its labs and factories and on the ground with customers, GE is inventing the next industrial era to move, power, build and cure the world. www.ge.com

About GE Power & Water

GE Power & Water provides customers with a broad array of power generation, energy delivery and water process technologies to solve their challenges locally. Power & Water works in all areas of the energy industry including renewable resources such as wind and solar; biogas and alternative fuels; and coal, oil, natural gas and nuclear energy. The business also develops advanced technologies to help solve the world’s most complex challenges related to water availability and quality. Power & Water’s six business units include Distributed Power, Nuclear Energy, Power Generation Products, Power Generation Services, Renewable Energy and Water & Process Technologies. Headquartered in Schenectady, N.Y., Power & Water is GE’s largest industrial business.

For more information, visit the company's website at www.gepower.com or follow @ge_powergen on Twitter. You can also follow along the journey of GE’s first HA Gas Turbine by visiting efficiency.gepower.com or following @HArriet_GE on Twitter.