GE Vernova to Buy Grid Equipment Maker Trench Group for $9 Billion
GE Vernova said on October 28, 2026 that it has agreed to acquire Trench Group, a manufacturer of high-voltage grid equipment, for about $9 billion, as part of a push to secure its own supply of the hardware utilities need to expand and reinforce their networks.
What Trench makes, and what GE Vernova gets
Trench produces bushings, instrument transformers and coils used in substations and transmission networks, and counts more than 800 utility and hyperscale data-center customers. According to GE Vernova, the deal brings with it about $5 billion in backlog and framework supply agreements, some of which extend into the next decade. Trench is already a supplier of high-voltage direct-current (HVDC) equipment to GE Vernova, so the acquisition converts an existing vendor relationship into outright ownership of manufacturing capacity.
Why GE Vernova wants to own the factory, not just buy from it
The deal strengthens GE Vernova’s Electrification segment, which sells the medium- and high-voltage equipment that utilities and large power users need to connect new generation, data centers and industrial load to the grid. CEO Scott Strazik said owning Trench’s production gives the company better visibility into production planning and helps align component supply with customers’ project schedules. He singled out Trench’s planned factory in North Carolina, which would become the first U.S. maker of bushings rated up to 765 kilovolts, calling it “an important capability” for GE Vernova’s American operations. “Lead times across the industry are increasingly important,” Strazik said, pointing to the broader rationale for bringing a key supplier in-house.
A hedge as gas turbine order growth cools
The acquisition was announced alongside GE Vernova’s third-quarter 2026 results, which the company described as strong even as growth in gas turbine orders slowed. Gas turbine capacity under contract rose to 122 gigawatts, up 6 GW from the prior quarter, a smaller jump than the double-digit gigawatt gains booked in earlier 2026 quarters; the company had started the year at 83 GW under contract. Companywide order backlog reached $196.7 billion, up from $135.3 billion a year earlier, and GE Vernova expects backlog to top $200 billion next quarter and at least 130 GW of gas power equipment under contract by year-end. Reservations now stretch out to 2032 deliveries, with demand running roughly 80% traditional utility customers and 20% data centers. Third-quarter order pricing rose more than 20% from the fourth quarter of 2025, and full-year 2026 order pricing is on track to climb about 50%, though the company expects per-kilowatt pricing to dip next quarter because of sales mix. Jefferies analyst Julien Dumoulin-Smith said GE Vernova’s comparatively soft guidance for 2027 turbine activity could be offset if the company keeps deploying cash into deals like Trench.
Deal terms and timeline
GE Vernova’s regulatory filings put the purchase price at $9.0 billion, or roughly €8.0 billion. The company said it expects to fund the acquisition with a roughly even mix of cash and debt, and that the transaction is expected to close in late 2027, subject to customary regulatory approvals.
Part of a broader grid hardware squeeze
The Trench deal lands as transmission and substation equipment has become one of the tightest links in the global grid build-out, a theme The Daily Energy has tracked through projects such as ScottishPower’s record-length cable landfall for the East Anglia Two wind farm and utilities’ own capital-spending responses, including CenterPoint Energy’s $70.7 billion, 10-year capital plan. GE Vernova’s own small modular reactor technology, the BWRX-300, has made the company a supplier across both the generation and grid-hardware sides of the data-center-driven buildout.
Sources
- GE Vernova, Q3 2026 earnings release and SEC Form 8-K/10-Q filings, October 28, 2026 — for the $9.0 billion/€8.0 billion deal value, backlog figures, financing structure and expected late-2027 close.
- Utility Dive, “GE Vernova in $9B deal to buy high-voltage manufacturer as gas turbine orders slow,” October 29, 2026 — for strategic rationale, executive quotes and gas turbine order context.
Illustrative image. Photo: CEphoto, Uwe Aranas, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons — source
