Renewable Energy Plays Key Role in GE’s Future

As shown here, the past 18 years haven’t been kind to investors in U.S. industry icon General Electric–but exactly what went wrong?  The common wisdom is that the enterprise was simply so diverse and far-flung that it had become unmanageable.

Even after years of aggressively shedding non-core assets through a series of restructurings, going into 2018, the enterprise still operated business units in aviation, healthcare, power, renewable energy, digital, additive manufacturing, venture capital and finance, lighting, transportation, and oil and gas.

But, according to GreenTechMedia, General Electric is headed for yet another restructuring so as to slim down further and slash debt. “Moving forward, GE will focus on power, renewables and aviation. Last year, those areas brought in $35 billion, $9 billion and $27 billion in revenue, respectively. While those domains will remain core to its business, other segments will be spun off as separate GE businesses (such as GE Healthcare) or merged with other companies.”

According to a presentation to investors, 67 percent of GE’s power capacity additions last year came from renewable sources. The company expects the sector to account for 70 percent of annual capacity additions through 2021.

It’s great to see that, for this industrial behemoth, renewables are still an important part of the plan.  GE’s co-founder, Thomas Edison, said that it was just a matter of time until all our energy came from the sun, and it’s fabulous to behold his vision coming to fruition.