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GE Vernova will invest $34.5 million in its Shreveport, Louisiana transformer factory, with full capacity due in 2028. The plant makes industrial and renewable units, so relief for grid queues is slow.
Energy & Cooling DeskEdited by Ege Erten
3 min readAI-assisted
GE Vernova's planned Shreveport expansion, with full capacity expected in 2028, according to Louisiana Economic Development.
Illustration (AI-generated)
GE Vernova said on Nov. 10, 2026 that it will invest $34.5 million to expand its transformer factory in Shreveport, Louisiana, creating 175 direct jobs and keeping 637 existing positions.
According to the Louisiana Economic Development (LED) release, the money goes into new manufacturing equipment, process improvements and supporting infrastructure at the plant on West Bert Kouns Industrial Loop. Engineering and equipment procurement are under way, installation is expected to run through 2027, and production is expected to reach full capacity in 2028. Utility Dive reported that the hiring lifts the factory's workforce by nearly 30%; 175 new jobs on top of 637 retained works out to about 27%.
Neither GE Vernova nor the state gave a capacity figure in MVA or a units-per-year number. That is the gap grid planners will care about, because the release states what the plant will make but not how much more of it.
The LED release says the upgrades are expected to raise output of industrial and renewable energy transformers, including units for digital factories and battery energy storage systems. It does not say the plant will build the large power transformers that sit at transmission substations, and it does not mention data-center customers by name. Philippe Piron, CEO of GE Vernova's electrification segment, said electricity demand is growing and that transformers are critical grid equipment.
The state offered a package that includes a $300,000 performance-based grant for site and infrastructure improvements, according to LED. GE Vernova also expects to take part in Louisiana's Quality Jobs and Industrial Tax Exemption programs. The release says General Electric broke ground on the 500,000-square-foot site in 1969 and began transformer production the following year. LED estimates 185 indirect jobs on top of the 175 direct ones, for 360 in total in the Northwest Region.
Transformer supply is one of the slower links between a data-center developer and a grid connection. As Voltgrid reported on the $9.0 billion Trench Group deal announced Oct. 28, a federal study cited by Engineering News-Record puts procurement of a typical 100-MVA large power transformer at 2.5 to three years. A plant that reaches full output in 2028 will not shorten the queue for units ordered today.
The Shreveport spend also differs in kind from the Trench deal. Trench makes bushings, the components that carry current into transformers, and GE Vernova said it expects that acquisition to close in late 2027. Shreveport adds production capacity for the transformers themselves. Together they show GE Vernova putting money into two parts of the same supply chain, though the $34.5 million is small next to the $9.0 billion price for Trench.
GE Vernova has also been winning large transmission work abroad, such as the 6,000-MW HVDC link for India's PowerGrid announced Nov. 6, 2026. That order is for high-voltage direct-current equipment, a different product class from the industrial and renewable transformers the LED release describes for Shreveport.
GE Vernova's release, the LED release and Utility Dive agree on the $34.5 million, the 175 direct jobs and the 2028 full-capacity target. None of them gives the plant's current or planned output in MVA, the voltage classes it will serve, or which customers the extra units are meant for. The company has not said whether the added capacity is reserved for any utility or data-center order. Watch for a capacity figure or a customer announcement as installation runs through 2027.
