Member Spotlight: GE Vernova
Mo Mattocks is the Executive Plant Manager at GE Vernova. Focused on accelerating Florida forward and creating long-term investments in Florida’s energy, water, transportation, telecommunications and rural infrastructure, Mo and GE Vernova are involved in the Florida Chamber Infrastructure Coalition.
What is one thing Floridians may not know about your industry?
Wind is a quickly growing industry and a reliable, affordable source of renewable energy that powers approximately 10% of commercial utilities in our country. GE Vernova’s Onshore Wind business has been the industry leader in the U.S. for 5 years in a row, producing the world’s best-selling onshore wind turbine with the 2MW platform. Our plant here in Pensacola has been at the forefront of the GE Vernova Onshore Wind industry leadership. By the end of 2024, GE Pensacola will have provided almost 75GW of total wind energy to the world since it first opened it’s doors.
What is one opportunity and one challenge your industry is facing?
We need to deliver 6 times the amount of TW hours to the grid in the next 20 years to deliver on our climate change goals. This is both a challenge and an opportunity. We’ll need to simultaneously grow capacity and execute projects faster than ever before while being laser focused on safety and quality. Government policy (like the passing of the Inflation Reduction Act) has helped bolster U.S. production of renewable energy components, like our onshore wind turbines. This, combined with recent financial investments from GE and GE Vernova, are helping position U.S. Manufacturing locations like Pensacola ahead of the ramp through facility upgrades, capacity expansion, productivity enhancements, and the creation of new jobs. With these contributions & our focus on Lean Manufacturing disciplines weaved throughout it all, this provides us the ability as a business to remain well-positioned and rise to meet the demand of the energy transition.
What is one way we can unite to help grow your industry in Florida?
Several major FL cities have 100% renewable energy commitments so supporting those efforts at a local and legislative level is paramount. It’s also important to get involved/work within the industry: with the passage of the IRA, new jobs in the renewable energy sector are being created. We will need a skilled and qualified workforce to help support clean power in the US. Therefore, creating manufacturing skills education locally with high schools, trade schools, and at the collegiate level is extremely helpful. Manufacturing is a vital position that will grow with the demand. We also will need more researchers, engineers, sales, field technicians, etc.