GE Vernova Hydrogen Turbine Tests: 100% LM6000VELOX, 50% LM2500XPRESS

GE Vernova said on Nov. 10, 2026 that its LM2500XPRESS aeroderivative gas turbine package is validated for fuel blends of up to 50% hydrogen and that its LM6000VELOX package completed testing to validate 100% hydrogen capability, both at its new Greenville, South Carolina test facility.

The company announced the results at the COP31 climate conference in Antalya, Turkey. The LM2500XPRESS was validated in a Dry Low Emission (DLE) combustion configuration and keeps its full-power start in five minutes or less, the company said. The LM6000VELOX was tested in a Single Annular Combustor (SAC) configuration. GE Vernova also said its gas turbine fleet as a whole, not the aeroderivatives alone, has passed 11 million operating hours on hydrogen and hydrogen-blended fuels, across more than 120 turbines that have run or still run on fuels containing hydrogen. POWER Magazine carried the release as contributed content from GE Vernova's communications team.

Why it matters for on-site data center power

Aeroderivative turbines, fast-starting units derived from aircraft engines, are among the machines AI developers buy for on-site power. Crusoe, for example, booked 29 LM2500XPRESS packages across two orders in December 2024 and June 2025, expected to provide almost 1 GW, according to Turbomachinery Magazine, which quoted GE Vernova's Pablo Koziner putting a single aero unit at approximately 35 MW. The Crusoe report does not say whether those units can burn hydrogen; GE rates the LM2500XPRESS on natural gas in its factsheet. The Nov. 10 release gives no availability date, price or order for the hydrogen configurations.

The market for the turbines is tight. In its third-quarter results of Oct. 28, 2026, GE Vernova said its Gas Power equipment backlog plus slot reservation agreements grew from 116 GW to 122 GW, with at least 130 GW expected by the end of 2026. Q3 orders included 57 aeroderivative turbines and 55 heavy-duty units. On the grid-equipment side, Voltgrid reported on the company's $34.5 million Shreveport transformer plant expansion.

What was tested and where

The Greenville aeroderivative testing facility at the company's Global Technology Center is part of the broader investment in the site announced in 2025, and it shortens development lead times for hydrogen-ready products, GE Vernova said. The site is newly completed rather than the first of its kind: GE's September 2025 LM2500XPRESS factsheet already listed hydrogen blends of up to 35%. The company counts the LM2500 family at more than 1,150 units sold and more than 200 million operating hours, and the LM6000 at an installed and shipped base of nearly 1,350 units in about 60 countries.

GE Vernova described hydrogen retrofits as system modifications that can let existing turbines run on hydrogen concentrations up to about 100% by volume. Its heavy-duty HA-class turbines, including the 7HA and 9HA, can burn up to 50% hydrogen by volume with the standard DLN2.6e combustor, the company said.

Why Hydrogen Blends Are Hard on Aeroderivatives

Hydrogen burns faster than natural gas, so GE Vernova says it redesigned the LM6000's fuel nozzle, water-injection schedule and controls for 100% hydrogen. The LM2500XPRESS takes a blend route instead: a Dry Low Emission combustor validated for up to 50% hydrogen, up from the up-to-35% on GE's September 2025 factsheet. GE rates the packages at about 37 MW and about 57 MW in simple cycle.

Test results are not orders. The one announced 100%-hydrogen LM6000VELOX order, four units for South Australia's 200-MW Whyalla plant in November 2024, was shelved in February 2025, and the state was still trying to sell the turbines in October 2026. The Nov. 10 release names no customer or date for either configuration.

What is not commercial or confirmed yet

The 100% hydrogen result for the LM6000VELOX is a completed test, not a fielded plant, and the release names no commercial availability date, price or customer order for either hydrogen configuration. It also publishes no emissions, efficiency or derating figures for the hydrogen runs. All performance statements come from GE Vernova; no independent test data was released.

The release says hydrogen-capable turbines can serve industrial users such as steel, refining and petrochemicals, and positions the units as a bridge for customers who use today's fuels first. It does not say where hydrogen supply would come from. For a data center operator, the open question is whether a unit ordered now can be converted later, and at what cost; the release does not address it.